Melting Ice
by FanficzGrl
Summary: MotKei Pairing: Motoko and Tsuruko's parents left them when they were young and Motoko has grown solely on the companionship of her sister. However, now that her sister was going off to marry someone, who's going to look after Motoko now?
1. GoodBye, Aneue

**Anime: Love Hina**

**Genre: Romance/General**

**Rating: Pg 13**

**Summary: **After their parents' departure, and the death of their grandfather, the only relative whom they had left, Tsuruko and Motoko survived on their own in the dojo that was their only remnant of their childhood memories. Motoko feels deeply attached to her sister, Tsuruko, and on the dawning of the news that Tsuruko was getting married, Motoko was profoundly hurt, thinking that the only relative that she has left was now betraying her. Tsuruko married Seta and Seta has a younger brother, Keitaro, who became interested in his new relative, Motoko. Motoko feels indifferent to Keitaro's family, as she was reminded constantly that this family was the family who had taken her sister away from her. Will our hero, Keitaro, be able to melt the ice around the heart of our favourite kendo girl? Read this fic to find out!

_**Prologue**_

**Melting Ice**

_By Fanficzgrl_

_**Goodbye, Anu-ue**_

Motoko inhaled deeply at the autumn air that smelled of a slight pungency, the sweet scent of needle-leaf pines and fallen shrivelled leaves timidly staining the air. The warming sun was just peeking past the horizon and Motoko was already up and ready for a new day. Motoko adored the atmosphere that autumn mornings bid her. It was probably because of the sense of a new beginning that mornings somehow tended to bring with them.

The broom in Motoko's hands swept its way across the stone laden steps as Motoko made her way down the dojo staircase. Motoko swept the fallen leaves that autumn was characterized of away from the walkway cautiously, careful as to not to wake her sister from sleep. One thing that tends to make many busybodies frustrated around this time of year is the trouble of sweeping leaves that fall on your doorsteps, the leaves just lying there, waiting patiently for you to sweep them into mountainous piles for the garbage men to dump.

Motoko was deeply attached to her sister, Tsuruko. Since the young age of five, Motoko's parents disappeared in her life and Motoko had missed the love that parents give to their children. Motoko had survived solely on the guidance of her grandfather and the companionship of her sister, who was only six years older than she was. At the time of when their parents left, Tsuruko was strong and told Motoko that she needed not to worry about anything. She told her that Aoyama women were strong beings and should not shed a tear just because someone was leaving them. Trying her best to console Motoko, she reassured her that she would take care of her no matter what, and even if that meant sacrificing her life if it were called for. Motoko felt obliged, now that she was at the age of seventeen and capable, to return her sister's love and care.

Motoko placed down her broom, allowing it to lean on the stone stair rails, and then, lifting her sleeves close to her forehead briskly, she gently used the soft cotton cloth to wipe away the pearls of sweat that had formed on the sides of her head from being under the sun too long. Taking a rest, Motoko sat herself quietly on one of the lower stone steps to gaze at her surroundings.

The dojo presented a magnificent scene. She loved the old building dearly as a second parent almost, and ironically enough, it _was_ a second parent to her. The building was rather worn, some pieces of the wood already betraying its owner's attempt to hide its years by exposing its scratches and markings to the average passer-by's sight. Some of the once ruby red paint on the building pillars had already gone to the darker end of the spectrum, taking up a deep brownish-maroon colour. Several slates of the roof had been blown off in the past due to a harsh wind current, and what was exchanged was an air of impoverishment.

The main entrance was characterized by a wide doorway that the set of stone laden steps led to, and on either sides of the dojo were tall trees that helped shadow some parts of the building, preventing it from further deterioration by the sun's harmful rays. On one of the shorter trees, a crudely constructed birdhouse perched on top of one of the stronger branch among the multitude of stem-like twigs. It was constructed by Motoko and Tsuruko when they were still young. Motoko still regularly supplies the feeder with seeds and corns as a regular habit of hers. The dojo was a heart-warming haven, but paradoxically speaking, it was also a permanent harbour of nightmares. To Motoko, the dojo was like her trench in war affairs. It'd held haunting memories, yet without it, she might not have even survived.

Motoko stirred boringly with a piece of grass at the weeds that petered out to the small scale forest on her left. Leaning on the large stone hand rail, Motoko directed her gaze ahead, cringing as she took notice, once again unfailingly, of a large crack that had been made on the concrete pavement floor. Thoughts of her grandfather returned, and his tragic death never fails to jerk tears to water her eyes. However, heeding to her sister's words, Motoko had never cried for his grandfather's unfortunate decease after that tearful and fateful night. Motoko shrugged the memories and heart piercing pain away as she heard her sister stirring and yawning from her sleep, breaking the serene silence.

"Ohayou! Ane-ue!" Motoko bided her sister a happy good morning as she saw her sister make way out of her room in a slightly dishevelled manner. Ane-ue's been out late at night these days, Motoko thought. Motoko banished the train of thoughts before it led her to any conclusions as she assured herself that her sister was always certain of what she's doing.

"Ohayou, Motoko," Tsuruko greeted back, covering her mouth politely as a slight yawn escaped her mouth again. "Did you sweep the floors already? I told you to wait for me to do that with you!"

"It's alright, Ane-ue," Motoko beamed at her sister as she replied happily, "It wasn't a lot of work and I was awake early today and had nothing to do anyways."

"You shouldn't push yourself so hard sometimes, Motoko! Go have some fun! At your age, you should be engaged in some fun activities with your friends!" Tsuruko urged her sister again despite the countless refusals that she'd received in the past. She felt slightly responsible for having her sister become so attached to her. It's not that she hated her sister; she just wanted her to have a life more happy than she does now. Motoko didn't go to school like her, and she was worried that she would remain isolated from people, especially with the painful childhood experience. Tsuruko was eleven when their parents left them and was old enough to learn the art of stress and anger management to release her pent up anger and ease her feelings of hopelessness. What's more, her grandfather had served as a formidable counsellor to speak with, and Motoko didn't have that opportunity, being the reserved and quiet person she was when it came to sharing your feelings. Besides, her grandfather's already deceased now and there's not reverting of history. Tsuruko was truly Motoko's only saviour in loneliness, as she confided in no one but her elder sister. Tsuruko felt it was only right for her, as an elder sister, to provide her sibling with the slightest bit of consolation possible.

"Ane-ue, you look awfully tired these days. Are you not feeling well?" Motoko questioned her sister earnestly, her eyes conveying care.

Tsuruko cringed slightly as she remembered where she was yesterday night. It was not necessary a horrible reminiscence of her past date, it was just that she had kept it a secret from her little sister. In fact, it was, on the contrary, a very memorable and heart-warming and not to mention, unexpected happening.

That night, Tsuruko was strolling along the beach with Seta-san, the man whom Tsuruko had been having a relationship with for quite a long time. It was their first year anniversary since they first met unexpectedly at a forest near the dojo. Seta had heard about the famous kendo sisters who inhabited the Kyoto Mountains and had wished to meet them. While fighting his way up the mountains, his track burdened by patches of weeds and puddles of mud below, countless bands of wines above, Seta heard a call for help. Racing to wherever the voice originated Seta spot a white and red figure also running towards the same direction that he was going in. He gave the young woman a glance, and noticed that she was wearing a traditional white gi and red hakama outfit, the traditional outfit that a kendo swordsman wore. They raced to the source of where all the alarm was being caused and caught sight of a young girl trying to get out of where she was, being tied up by a mass of green, velvety fibres, her limbs and neck encircled and trapped by the green shrub. The two of them cooperatively, helped the young girl out of her dilemma and told her to leave the forest immediately.

"This forest sure is untamed, isn't it?" Seta had said, his breath slightly disturbed by the physical effort that he had had to exert while trying to help the young girl.

"Yeah, it is, a bit," the young women in the kendo outfit had replied, her breathing jagged, trying to reap the soothing benefits of fresh air.

"The caretaker of this mountain must be a real lazy bum to leave it like this, don't you think?" Seta suggested, watching the young lady's appearance carefully.

To his delight, a response did come out of the swordswoman as she pointed a finger accusingly at the man, saying, "You have no right to judge the goodness of this mountain's tamer. There were frequent heavy rains in the recent past and it was impossible to do the necessary trimmings. How do you know that the tamer of this mountain isn't already making her way down here to clean up the mess, HUH!"

Seta stared in awe at the feisty woman before his eyes. The woman was tall with a slim figure that subtly hinted at her beauty. Her skin was a pale ivory, but currently, her cheeks were stained a deep pink from all the effort that she was putting in to regain her posture. Seta awed at the smoothness of her skin and felt drawn to feel its silkiness like moths drawn to fire, deadly yet tempting. The swordswoman glared at him, and it was then that he noticed her eyes were a piercing green, their depths underlined by a slither of grey that made them all the more pronounced. It was just love at first sight, Seta summarized.

"I was just kidding you, my charming lady," Seta replied chivalrously, his hand reaching for Tsuruko's, and in a sudden gesture, he brought her hand to his lips for a brief kiss that stunned Tsuruko to the core, as she had never been in contact with a man before, nonetheless get kissed by one!

Tsuruko's instinct brought her other hand to slap the man's face at once, and to her surprise, the man dodged it with equal, if not faster, speed. "Why are you here?" she finally questioned him formally.

"I'm here to look for someone," Seta replied, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Whom are you referring to?" Tsuruko asked in a cold manner.

"The lady of my life," Seta said, once again in his taunting tone of voice that aggravated Tsuruko to a getting-on-her-nerves extent.

"And whom may that be?" Tsuruko asked, obviously annoyed at the bluntness of the man who had just intruded on her property.

"You." Seta said, his eyes grinning at Tsuruko.

Tsuruko's eyes widened and before she knew it, she was soon falling in love with this charming male creature as well. Their love story began and all's a fairy tale from then on, that is, except for the occasional occurrences where the story has its certain anticlimaxes when the situation somehow turns out painful on Seta's part. I guess the Aoyama women do tend to whip power wherever they go, even in love world.

Tsuruko grinned as she remembered the time when Seta had promised to buy a treat for her and she had asked for ice-cream, but all the stores were closed. He had had to knock on all the shops in Japan almost, until one finally opened and the only flavour that it sold was ginger. He gave the ice-cream to Tsuruko and after a taste of the ice-cream and its surprising tongue-burning hotness, she threw the ice cream right at Seta in an attempt to get the sinful product out of her face.

"Tsuruko," Seta's voice sounded.

"Yes?" Tsuruko asked as she turned her head in her fiancee's direction. Their faced touch and the intimacy of Seta's warm breathing on her face caused her to blush slightly.

"Tsuruko, I've been thinking about this for a long time, "Seta said, "And I'd like it if you would…ummm….you would…marry me?" He said, laughing wholeheartedly as he rubbed the back of his head like a young, nervous child.

Tsuruko didn't know what to say. She was sure that she was in love with the man, but marrying him was a whole different issue! It was true, that she'd gone out many times with this man, had found him smart and charming, not to mention funny when he does cute, clumsy things, but did that mean that she was ready to marry him! She had been alone all along and marriage presented such a warm and happy feeling that she was almost too afraid to touch that warmth, fearing that it might scald her if she did.

"Tsuruko, I love you very much," Seta began as he wrapped his arms tightly around Tsuruko, warming the swordswoman with his love, "I'm not a man of words and I know I just can't express to you how much you mean to me, but I just want to tell you that I can't go on with my life normally without you. I've tried! I've really tried! But I just can't! Life without you just isn't the same anymore. The loneliness is too unbearable! Please accept my proposal to you! Please!"

Tsuruko was shocked. This man had suddenly changed from his usual composed and charming self, to a restless and despairing man. Tsuruko's heart pained to see her love suffer so much and she knew too, that her heart was wishing for her to accept the proposal, so she agreed.

Hearing Tsuruko's agreement in the proposal was like God giving a poor soul back his life with redemption, Seta's face immediately brightening to the break of the news.

"I'd got a lot of explaining to do once I get home," Tsuruko thought, giving a sigh.

"Ane-ue? Ane-ue? Aneue!" a voice called to Tsuruko's head as she shook herself from her reverie.

"What's wrong, Ane-ue?" Motoko asked out of genuine concern, "You've been acting unlike yourself lately. We're sisters! You can tell me anything!"

Tsuruko looked young Motoko in the eyes, seeing past those same piercing green eyes that were only more subtle in its sharpness, but more prominent in its luminosity, and saw a soul that was weak and yearned for help. She felt her heart tear apart as she thought of how the news might break her.

"I have something to tell you, Motoko," Tsuruko said in a slightly solemn voice. Her brain chastised her for hurting her sister. However, what needs to be done must be done. Letting out a sigh, she continued, "I know you're going to feel hurt when I tell you this, but you must understand that I have the right to make a decision too."

Motoko stared her sister in the eye and was slightly frightened by the sudden thick air of solemnity and seriousness that settled on their conversation. Motoko gulped and gave a nod in reassurance to urge her sister to continue.

"I'm getting married," Tsuruko said, closing her eyes, her brain not wanting to register what had just happened, just wishing for the harm to banish away with the irreversible leaving of time.

Unfortunately, nature doesn't govern in that manner and the harm had been done.

Slowly, Tsuruko opened her eyes as she stared at her sister, standing there, eyes wide opened, and her breathing turning rough. She was breathing almost as if she were hyperventilating.

"Motoko! Motoko! Are you okay!" Tsuruko cried out, encircling her sister in her arms.

Motoko walked slightly aback, out of Tsuruko's embrace to look her sister in the eye. Watery green eyes that had turned hazy glared at her sister with tears threatening to fall, but did not because the words of a certain person who was currently hurting her was still resonating in her mind.

Motoko's voice finally perked up, when she delivered her strained reply, "Why? Why are you doing this?"

**Fanficzgrl: **Hello everyone! It's amazing that I'm writing a new fic, eh? Yeah, I'd thought you'd say yes. But don't worry! You're bound to see more of my name appearing on the site as I will be updating more frequently now, hopefully. I hope all of you liked this story, because I sure did when I thought of this idea! This story should stir some interest in all of you as it is a Mot/Kei pairing fic. This is just the beginning and there's a whole lot more to come that would bring both laughs and tears to your eyes. Keep an eye out on this story, **Melting Ice**! Please give me some comments on this fic, as they are much taken to heart! I'd prefer no flames but constructive criticism is highly welcomed! Leave a review to tell me whether you like the pacing of this fic, or whether the characters need some more work on, or just leave a review anyways to tell me you've read it! Tell me anything you have on mind and I'll try my best to work hard to make this fic all the more better to read!


	2. A Wedding of Departure

**Anime: Love Hina**

**Genre: Romance/General**

**Rating: Pg 13**

_**Chapter Two**_

**Melting Ice**

_By Fanficzgrl_

_**A Wedding of Departure**_

Tsuruko's heart tore apart as she saw how sad her younger sister was.

"Motoko, come…" Tsuruko began as she tried to pull Motoko in for a warm embrace, only to find Motoko again walking a step further behind, away from her.

"Motoko, listen to me," Tsuruko cried out desperately, "I can explain this!"

"Yes, you can, of course," Motoko said, her voice seemingly strained, "You can do anything you want because you are Ane-ue." Motoko's lips quivered as she tried to hold back the tears. "I understand it's impossible for me to ask you to stay with me forever. I can accept your choosing to lead a different path in your life. I can understand this. I really can. It's not as if it's anything new that another person whom I care for is leaving me again."

"I loved Seta!" Tsuruko cried out on impulse. She didn't know what else to say that will make her sister listen. Her brain chose to say what she'd thought was most attention catching at the moment.

Motoko's eyes widened a bit in surprise, her eyes showing a glint of emerald among the hazy green-grey. Motoko's head turned slightly to one side as she tried to hide her face that was currently showing a mixture of uncertain emotions. "I think I want to leave now."

Tsuruko was about to stop her from leaving but a voice in her head told her that it was only for the best that she give Motoko some time to herself.

"Alright, Motoko," Tsuruko reluctantly agreed as she dismissed Motoko.

Motoko turned away and walked into one of the forests that stood on the dojo's right side.

Tsuruko watched as Motoko slowly retreated into the forest, tears absentmindedly slithering their way down her cheek. She gasped in surprise when a pearl of tear rolled off her chin, falling onto the pale concrete, leaving a stain on the concrete floor. She had cried, and had broken her promise to Motoko. She had gone against her own words in both keeping her tears and her heart inside her. Now that she had exposed both of them, there's no turning back.

Motoko meandered quietly into the forest, the thick trees engulfing her form. Slowly, her pace quickened as she started plunging herself quickly into the forest deeper and deeper. Tears that stung her face were pouring down her face restlessly but she didn't care. Nothing mattered to her now; her sister didn't care about her anymore.

Finally she reached a lake that ran down the mountain. Ripples of water rushed downstream as waves crashed one over another. Motoko crouched down by the stream, and peered down at her reflection over the crystal water.

"Ane-ue is going to leave me…" Motoko said to herself in a whispery voice. She reached down to touch her reflection, her fingers shocked by the coldness of the running water.

Motoko had never felt so sad since her grandfather's departure. She was now losing her only close relative. Life just wasn't fair, she thought. She'd always considered herself lucky despite all the misfortune that she'd encountered since she was a little kid, because she had a caring sister who would stick with her through thick and thin. Motoko didn't care about anything else as long as she had her sister with her. To her, her sister meant everything. She would even give her life to save her sister if she were in danger. Motoko just couldn't bear her sister leaving her now.

However, Motoko understood that people must move on with their lives no matter what. Although she wished for her sister to be with her forever, she knew that she couldn't be so selfish and care only about herself. If her sister wanted to be with somebody else and that would make her happy, Motoko was fine with the decision.

Her head now cleared of thoughts, Motoko slowly walked back to the dojo. Her sister was no where in sight when she got there so, she decided to pick up her bokken and start practicing her kendo techniques as usual, as if nothing had happened.

Motoko ran through her techniques and when she was done, she was already breathing deeply, her lungs trying to draw in more air. Her knees screamed at her and ordered her to stop and rest. Her hands that were gripping onto the wooden bokken hardly were crying for their delicate skin was blistered. However, Motoko continued on.

She thrashed her sword around, cutting the air around her as if they were her invisible opponent. She sent multitudes of kii in all directions, her mind trying to run away from the problem. It'd seemed to Motoko that the harder she tried, the more confused and jumbled her thoughts became. Suddenly, Motoko saw a second bokken moving her way, trying to block her blinded attacks.

Motoko looked up, her eyes finding their match. She blinked, as if to make sure that what she was seeing wasn't just a mirage conceived by some parts of her tired brain. Clearly enough, it wasn't an hallucination when she felt her counterpart strike at her arm, hard but not intending to hurt.

Tsuruko watched as her sister attempted to dodge her attacks. She was amazed that her skills had improved since their last battle, but it seemed as though she'd lost something since. There was no heart in her moves. It was all technique and strength. There was no passion. Motoko has lost her heart, Tsuruko could sense, as she fought her sister even harder, urging Motoko to counter her attacks with the passion that she used to have.

"Come on, Motoko!" Tsuruko cried aloud, "Is that the best that you can do? How can you become a true swordswoman if you fight like this?"

"At least I AM a swordswoman," Motoko refuted, "I am true to my sword and my family art. I have not betrayed the Shimeiryuu style, unlike you!"

Tsuruko stopped in her tracks as her sister's words haunted her. Motoko saw her sister pause suddenly and realized what a fool she was to say those words to her. She hadn't meant to say such spiteful words. She didn't know why, but they'd just slipped her mouth. She mentally chastised herself for doing such a foolish thing to harm her sister.

"I'm sorry," Motoko said, her head down with shame, " I didn't mean to say that to you."

"It's alright, Motoko," Tsuruko replied, her eyes becoming watery. She understood her sister's pain and felt it was at least good that she finally released her anger, rather than letting it build up inside her.

"Ane-ue!" Motoko cried out as she threw her arms around her sister. Tsuruko, too, enveloped her sister in a big, bear hug. The two of them crying together, not caring about whatever image that an Aoyama woman needed to put up. It was a sisterly time and nothing can intrude in this.

"I'm sorry," Motoko cried between sobs. She felt childish again; she hadn't felt that way since who knew how many years ago-and it'd felt good.

"I'm sorry too!" Tsuruko said in an almost wailing manner. She crushed her sister to her and Motoko felt almost suffocated.

The two of them smiled at each other when they finally finished throwing their tantrums. It's been long since they'd done that. Gosh, when had they even done this before!

"When's your wedding, Ane-ue?" Motoko finally managed to ask.

"Five days after today," Tsuruko answered, returning to her old tone of voice once again.

"I see…" Motoko began before she was cut in her speech by Tsuruko.

"I really want you to come to my wedding Motoko," Tsuruko said while looking into Motoko's eyes with an aura of seriousness around her. "Would you do that for me?"

Motoko listened carefully to her sister's words and realized that it was the first time that her sister had ever requested anything from her. "Of course, I would."

Tsuruko beamed brightly at her, and then, grabbed her close to her for another big hug. Ane-ue had never been so happy like this, Motoko thought, her mind disconcerted once again, "was she ever even happy to start with?"

Five days passed by quickly. The dojo was almost refurbished, as Tsuruko's soon-to-be husband had asked many people to come and renovate the place to get it ready for the happy occasion that was to come. Cheery red ribbons and lanterns hung along the dojo roof, framing the dojo to give it an atmosphere almost too happy for Motoko to bear. Motoko would sometimes feel repulsive towards the effort that everyone's making to make the wedding day a big event, but whenever she remembered how happy her sister had been, she'd soon lose her resolve.

That day, Motoko woke up, again earlier than her sister. She looked around dojo and saw the decorations thrown across the walls that emanated the joyous feel. The dojo had never been like this before. It was always a boring place to be in, but to Motoko, it wasn't that bad since it was her and her sister's secret haven, apart from the outside world. Now, it was different, it was her only attachment and she felt a bit offended to have people throw their sinful innovations without her consent over it. Motoko heard her sister stir in her sleep and quietly tiptoed to peek into her room. True enough, her sister was awake. Motoko was about to knock on her door but what she saw caught her eyes and made her stop.

Tsuruko was sitting in front of her bedside mirror, combing her hair. She took up a beautifully decorated container and opened it. Inside, revealed a glossy pink material that Tsuruko delicately used her fingers to dab at. Carefully she blotched the pink substance onto her lips, giving life and cheeriness to her face. Then, she applied a light, faintly visible blush to her cheeks and, later proceeding onto her eyes. Using an eye shadow that helped outline the shape of her eyes, Tsuruko transformed into a beautiful woman whom any man would kill for.

Motoko quietly walked away as she waited patiently for her sister to dress in the formal wedding kimono and presented herself as a mature woman, ready to become someone's wife.

"You look beautiful today, Ane-ue" Motoko said in awe of her sister's beauty.

"You are even more beautiful than I am Motoko," Tsuruko said, "You are just not aware of your own beauty."

Motoko shook her head in denial, "I can never become as beautiful as you are."

Tsuruko smiled at her sister's naiveté, as she was definitely oblivious of her own beauty. Motoko had a figure that was long and slim, her body slightly curving at the right places, unlike the provocative women who would show off their exaggerated body shapes. Her skin was a silky, pale ivory that made it all the more tantalizing when it blushed a light pink in face of embarrassment. Her eyes were a true wonder that God had created, the colours enticing those whom are captivated by them to delve deeper into their depths. The slightly sharp cheekbones didn't deny the order of oriental heredity as they only brought out the dignity that her face was moulded to express. How could this person think she's not pretty! What must she have been thinking! Someone needs to buy a new mirror!

Tsuruko gave a sigh, as she knew that her sister would not be readily convinced that she was indeed a beautiful being, and then told her to quickly get dressed for the occasion. Motoko hurriedly rushed into her room and took out something more formal from her closet. Motoko was unacquainted to participating in important events and therefore had few clothes that suited the situation. Finally, after what seemed like hours of rummaging, Motoko finally found a piece of clothing that was suitable for the event. It was a slightly pale coloured yukata that had beautiful patterns of flowers embroidered on the silky cloth. The patterns were hand woven by her mother and she'd never brought herself to wear it before. The clothing felt extremely strange on her, as she was not accustomed to wearing something as precious as this before. The kendo outfit that she'd always worn, composed of the white gii and red hakama, was comfortable and permitted her to move around freely to perform her kendo attacks. Now she felt even condemned for walking a step too big in the yukata. Motoko had never envisioned herself in an outfit as formal as this one. Motoko went to her desk, sat down and decided to tie her hair up for the occasion. She decided to tie her silky raven hair in a casual bundle, pinned by hairpins that resembled chopsticks. Loose strands of hair fell from the bundle, making her look even more radiant than ever. She decided to forgo the make up and went out of her room. To her surprise, the groom and his family and friends were already there. The guests took in her beautiful form and they all took their share of gazing at her. Motoko blushed slightly, as she bravely banished the embarrassment that was creeping up her skin, scalding her. There were just too many people there to make things comfortable.

Motoko followed her sister around and everyone commented on the two sister's beauty. Motoko took it as just a means of politeness when the guests told her that she'd looked radiant.

Soon, the bride and the groom stood in front of the room, hands crossed with each other.

Motoko stared at her brother in law and found him quite handsome. He had deep eyes that beheld wisdom and a stubble on his lower chin that gave an air of casualness. Motoko immediately found him captivating and didn't blame Ane-ue for falling for him. Although, handsome, Motoko thought that there was just something missing in him. Motoko didn't know what it was but she'd found it a missing piece of tribute that failed to make him the perfect male specimen alive. Although liking him at once, Motoko reminded herself that this man was the man who stole his sister away from her, and reminded herself to keep her distance. She didn't trust the man.

When the formal Japanese wedding ceremony was finally over, what followed was a dance party that the couple had reserved at a fancy ballroom. Motoko was reluctant to go but after being persuaded by her sister after what seemed like a thousand times, Motoko finally agreed. Perhaps it was a small desire to make today the best day for her sister, but Motoko just felt warm to see her sister smiling the way she did today. However, she couldn't help but wonder why she'd only smiled this happily today. Wasn't she happy when she was with Motoko before? It'd pained her to think that way, so Motoko dismissed the thought.

"Come," Tsuruko said as she urged Motoko into her room.

"What is it, Ane-ue?"

"Here, take this," Tsuurko said as she handed a beautifully made red dress to her.

The dress was elegant and yet not too fancy like those with the frilly ends, fancy sleeves, and gem embroidered cloth. It was simple, yet elegant, just like Motoko.

"What is this for?" Motoko asked, then reprimanding herself for asking a stupid question when she realized that she had promised her sister that she would go to the evening ball tonight.

Tsuruko gave her a questioning look by raising an eyebrow that was something new to Motoko.

"Never mind, "Motoko said, "but I can't accept this! It's too precious! And besides, it'll just be a waste for it to be worn on my body!"

"Nonsense!" Tsuruko said as she forced her sister to hold the dress, "You promised me that you'll go to the ball, and you can't go to the ball without a dress!"

Her sister was right, she really didn't have a dress for the ball tonight. Darn, Motoko thought. She made a mental note to herself to get back at her sister when she has the chance. She was absolutely being taken advantaged of because of her want for her sister to be happy, and somehow, Motoko suspected that Tsuruko knew of this. How evil…

Motoko quickly dressed herself in the dress and Tsuruko exclaimed, telling her how pretty and elegant she looked. Motoko was almost about to roll her eyes, almost…but it was just kind of out of her character to do so

"Don't look so sadden, Motoko!" Tsuruko said teasingly, "Who knows! You might just be able to find your prince tonight." With that said, she gave Motoko a wink that suggested something mysterious that was unbeknownst to Motoko at the moment. Motoko sweat dropped and decided that it was best to not ask questions.

**Fanficzgrl: **Hihi once again! So how do you think of this story so far? Great? Not so great? Anyhow, I'd really appreciate it if you leave behind a review to comment on the story or my writing. I hope to make each chapter better each time. Reviews will keep on coming. Thanks very much!


	3. Meeting Keitaro

**Anime: Love Hina**

**Genre: Romance/General**

**Rating: Pg 13**

_**Chapter Three**_

**Melting Ice**

_By Fanficzgrl_

_**Meeting Keitaro**_

Evening arrived as the clear blue sky was overtaken by a canvas of velvety material. Thousands of stars seemed to have came out tonight just for rejoicing at this joyous occasion as they twinkled brightly across the sky. The glowing moon was slightly shielded by a wisp of cloud, giving the night an additional air of romanticism.

Motoko stared at the ballroom as she found herself watching many pairs of lovers dancing lovingly on the dance floor to the melodic music playing in the background. Long tables lined on two opposite sides of the ball room, displaying a varied assortment of snacks and punches, foods that were foreign to Motoko. Motoko looked ahead in search of her sister and found her laughing at some joke her brother-in-law had probably pulled. Motoko gave a sigh and decided to escape the room to catch her breath.

Out on the dance floor, a young male of about the age of 18 or so, turned his head as he caught a glimpse of a red figure leaving the ballroom. Today was his brother's wedding and he wondered why someone was leaving so early. The boy, named Keitaro Urashima, decided to see what was going on.

Politely, he excused himself out of the conversation which some young ladies were trying to engage him in to, and pursued the red figure. When he reached the opened glass doors, he pulled the handles and plunged himself outside. The cold air gave him a little shock and he shifted his head here and there in hopes to locate a red figure.

Failing to find sight of something red, the young man turned to leave in disappointment. He didn't know why he was so disappointed in failing to find someone who he knew nothing of. It was just a sudden impulsive urge that had overcome him when he felt drawn to that red figure. Maybe it was just the colour, Keitaro thought to himself. Red was always somewhat special to him.

As he was about to enter back inside the ballroom, he heard a shifty noise and turned to find a young lady sitting by the edge of a pond. As he glared harder, he realized that the young girl was wearing a dress that looked somewhat brown under the dark sky. A sudden realization hit him as he realized that red probably doesn't look red anymore under the dim light. Things only look red in the dark when there's an accident and you see red lights shining in all direction and sirens screaming at your ears.

Motoko heard footsteps coming in her direction and turned her gaze to find it land on a rather handsome man. The man had a childish face that looked somewhat cute under the luminous moonlight, especially when he looked as if he was searching for someone in panic and then sighing in disappointment he couldn't find that person. His animated emotions were so exaggerated on his face that Motoko couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. Then, she found herself staring into the eyes of the young man, probably the same age as her, perhaps a bit older.

"Ah..haha…" the young man chuckled as he realized he was caught staring, "I'm sorry, I just saw someone leaving the ball and thought it was strange so I went out to investigate. Hehe…"

"It's okay," Motoko replied as she stood up to meet the man face to face, understanding that it was probably impolite of her to be sitting while he was standing. "I was just a little bored, so I came out here. What's your name?"

"Oh!" the young man jumped as he replied, "It's Keitaro. What's yours?"

"Motoko," Motoko sheepishly replied.

"It's a beautiful name," Keitaro said, his mind not even thinking clearly.

"It is?" Motoko asked, herself even uncertain about the true meaning of it. It'd seemed to her as just some common Japanese name. She didn't know there was supposed to be some sort of significance behind it.

"Ah haha…" Keitaro laughed stupidly once again, rubbing the back of his head. He chastised himself for always being so nervous around girls whom he was attracted to. "Actually, I'm not very sure if there's some significant meaning behind your name, but I just found it very pretty," he said honestly.

Motoko laughed too. In fact, she laughed so hard that tears fell from her eyes.

Keitaro was rather stunned as to why the lady was crying. He realized that there must be something sad that was bothering her, which should explain why she was out here all alone in the first place. He handed her his handkerchief and nervously went over to pat her on the back to stop her tears from falling. It'd hurt him just to look at a weak girl cry.

Motoko had never been so close to a male before, but she didn't care. His warmth was soothing and it'd felt safe just to have him close to her. He took his hanky to wipe away the tears and noticed that there was the picture of a cute turtle waving its hand embroidered on it. She'd never liked turtles but the picture was just too cute to resist. What surprised her even more was that the young man still brought with him a hanky that had cute cartoon pictures on it. Motoko smiled slightly at the thought.

"Keitaro!" a deep male voice called from inside the ballroom.

"Oh! I got to go now," the young man said as he made his way to leave, "I hope you'll feel better soon. Always remember that this world is full of beautiful moments just waiting for you to discover them! Don't feel sad!"

That having said, Keitaro rushed into the room.

Motoko smiled to herself, as she felt herself liking the man more and more as time grew. She stared at the cute hanky that he had lent her and suddenly, realizing that she had forgotten to return it to him, she rushed back into the ballroom in search of him to return the hanky back to its rightful owner.

As she made her way through the crowd of people, she looked in all direction hoping to find the man. She had only seen him in the dark and thus didn't recognize his countenance very much.

Just when she was almost ready to give up, she heard a voice, familiar to her and stopped in her tracks to look in the direction of the soothing voice. Motoko's face brightened as she recognized the man named Keitaro and rushed up to return the hanky to him. The man looked more boyish under the light now. His physique met the requirements of passing as a man, as he had a strong build, together with the wide shoulders that would be rather comforting to lean on when you're sad. His hair was slightly ruffled, adding to the boyish look and his skin was surprisingly in good condition, for a man at least.

Motoko rushed up to him but then what she heard made her stop running.

"Sister-in-law is beautiful," Keitaro said to his brother.

"Hey! Don't think you're going to steal my fiancée!" Seta joked as he showed his protective manner over Tsuruko.

"Stop kidding around! Seta!" Keitaro laughed, giving his brother a punch, "I'd be a sinner to think about my brother's wife like that!"

"You sure would," Seta said, "but, you can think about Tsuruko's sister. She's almost as beautiful as my Tsuruko." Seta had already learned to use the word "my" to show his possessiveness over his wife.

"I'm not interested," Keitaro said, his mind thinking about the charming girl who he'd met earlier today.

"Oh, really!" Seta said in a cunning way that resembled a sly fox, "I bet you're just saying that because you can't get a girlfriend as pretty as my wife."

Keitaro fumed as his brother once again made fun of his unproductiveness in finding himself a proper girlfriend. Sure, he had some female friends who admired him, but they were not the perfect girl for him.

"Of course not!" Keitaro countered, not wanting his brother to take all the fun in the conversation. "In fact, I've already got her falling for me," Keitaro boasted absentmindedly, not even registering the fact that this was in fact reality ( I guess not anymore now). "It's just that I'm not interested in her!"

Motoko couldn't believe her ears. This man who was so gentle and kind to her just a while ago is now turned into a mean and ruthless man! Of course, the two men were from the same family and shared the same blood. How foolish of Motoko to have thought otherwise! They were evil creatures. The elder of the two had already stolen her sister and now the younger is trying to play with her heart too! Motoko felt foolish to have even had a slight bit of feeling for this man. She immediately raised the icy walls around her heart once again. She could not allow herself to lose her resolve anymore. She'd been foolish once and was punished for that. She was not stupid enough to fall for the same thing again. Motoko will not love anymore, she thought.

"Well, how about this," Motoko heard Seta said in a crafty manner, "Tsuruko's sister has been known to be a cold-hearted person. If you can make her fall for you, which would make my life easier as well since Tsuruko wouldn't always be feeling so worried about her sister anymore, I'd give you my new computer."

"You're on!" Motoko's eyes widened as she heard Keitaro agree to the bet. How could he play with his feelings just for the bet over some stupid electronic device! How could he!

Motoko could not handle it anymore. She rushed out of the ballroom, leaving the hanky falling onto the ground as she did so.

"Hehe…" Seta said, as he jabbed his brother playfully in the ribs, "Since when did you start playing with little girls' emotions."

"Since learning you're always cheap on bets," Keitaro said as he looked away nonchalantly, "You never keep your words for a bet anyways. I knew it all along that you were only kidding. I just gave you the emotion you wanted to see to please you for tonight."

"Haha…" Seta chuckled at his brother. He'd grew wiser than before, Seta approved of his little brother.

"Hmmm? What's this," Keitaro said as he reached down to pick up the handkerchief that he had lent the girl he met today. Why's it here on the ground? Where's the girl? Keitaro was puzzled why the girl hadn't return his handkerchief to him in person. (Foolish, Keitaro.)

**Fanficzgrl:** Aww….Stupid Keitaro! How's the story going so far? I guess we're soon getting down to the juicier stuff now that we are introduced to the main characters of the story. I'm not sure if my characters are developed well enough. Anyways, tired now Hope to hear your comments in the reviews! Love the encouragement!


	4. Living Together

**Anime: Love Hina**

**Genre: Romance/General**

**Rating: Pg 13**

_**Chapter Four**_

**Melting Ice**

_By Fanficzgrl_

_**Living Together**_

The night was still and quiet at the dojo except for some faint snuffling sounds that could be heard in a partially lit room. Motoko pulled her knees in closer to hers as she wrapped herself with the covers on the futon.

It was such a sad night for Motoko. First she lost her sister, and then, she got deceived by her new brother-in-law's brother who she had almost…ALMOST liked. Today was supposed to be a happy occasion, yet Motoko felt that she had never been so sad before. She felt betrayed and lonely, a painful combination that gnawed at her chest.

Letting out a deep sigh, she felt some of the pain leave her. She was exhausted for the day and slowly fell into a deep slumber, especially when her eyes were tired of crying. She was so unaccustomed to this behaviour that it weighed heavily on her youth and accelerated some years of her life probably.

The next morning, Motoko woke up feeling like she had fought a long battle for days just before. Her muscles whined of fatigue, unwilling to move, and it had seemed to her that she'd gain weight all on her head overnight. It'd felt like a ton! Pressing on a few spots where some of the nerves are, Motoko tried to sooth her senses and clear her mind. She didn't even drink any alcohol yesterday, so how could she possibly be drowsy! Perhaps Motoko was drunk from feelings rather than brew.

Slowly, Motoko recovered, and made her way out of her room. Even though sick and cranky, Motoko managed to fix her bed before she left, trying her best to make like nothing had changed since yesterday. However, something did change and it can't be reverted. The dojo was quiet, too quiet for Motoko's liking for that matter. Even the rustling of dry grass outside sounded loud in Motoko's ears when silence prevailed over the almost vacant expanse.

"Maybe I'd put some wind chimes up to liven things a bit here," Motoko thought. She looked around and found pieces of shells and cuts of dried bamboo stems that would make great wind chimes when they were assembled together. All of a sudden, Motoko found herself happy again, satisfied that there was something to occupy her mind with.

She set to work, boring holes out of the shells and bamboo pieces and carefully, she strung colourful strings through them with her long, slender fingers. Finally, she had tied them to a base when she realized that she needed a long rope to hang the finished product over the dojo's threshold. She looked about the dojo, but failed miserably in finding the perfect ribbon or rope to tie the wind chimes. Then, she caught sight of the red celebrative ribbons that were thrown across the walls just the day before. The painful memories lurked once again in her mind and she threw the wind chimes that she'd just made onto the ground in desperation.

Motoko's head spun as she found herself engulfed by the demon of loneliness. She shuddered, her body muscles twitching uncontrollably, and wrapping her arms around herself, she tried to make the pain go away-but it didn't. Motoko could almost hear the maniacal laughter of whichever hell demon of loneliness was taunting menacingly at her and she fought desperately with it in her mind to make it vanquish. The more she fought, the more tired she grew and ultimately, the more the likeliness of her to lose the mental battle.

"Motoko?" a voice suddenly called to her, pulling her from the sucking warp hole.

Motoko lifted her head, and found herself gazing into the eyes of her sister. Tears welled in her eyes, the orbs of emerald and grey mixed in together in an inseparable concoction.

"Ane-ue!" Motoko almost cried aloud, despite the tears and mucous that had collected in the pit of her throat, preventing her from projecting her own voice. What'd came out was a muffled raspy voice.

Motoko threw her arms out as she propelled herself into Tsurko's arms, but then found herself halting when she saw that someone was behind Tsuruko at that time as well. It was a man, and more precisely speaking, it was the man who had taken away her sister, and the man whom Motoko hates-Seta.

"Brother-in-law," Motoko said in the coldest voice that she could possibly manage, "Good morning."

Seta was a bit surprised by the sudden change in tone of Motoko's voice but neglected it as he beamed at her, greeting her with a cheery, "Ohayou."

Motoko looked at the man and wondered why he was so happy for. "Ah, of course," Motoko thought, "He has her sister now-of course he should be happy. It's only _her_ who's the one who's not happy now. One person's happiness for another person's happiness-I'm sure it's an equation that many math teachers would agree with."

"What has brought you here?" Motoko questioned him.

"Your sister and I have came to bring you good news!" Seta exclaimed as he placed his arms around his new bride's waist.

"And what may that be, dear brother-in-law?" Motoko asked, obviously discontented by the display that her brother-in-law had put up.

"Hey," Seta said, "drop the formalities, just call me Seta, we're family now! In fact, the reason why we came here today is because we wanted to remind you that you're always a part of our family and that you should live with us. Families should stick together and you know your sister-she would never leave you behind."

"I'm sorry for all the trouble that I have caused you, Seta," Motoko said, picking up on the casual name that Seta had insisted her on using, "but I think I'd be better off living here where I should be."

"Motoko," Tsuruko spoke up, "Why don't you listen to us and just come with us. You're so lonely here and I can't help but worry how you're going to fend for yourself alone."

"Don't worry," Motoko said, "I've grown up pretty much alone all my life-except for you being there, so I think I can take perfect care of myself. You don't need to worry about me. I don't want to intrude on your life."

"Don't say that!" Tsuruko exclaimed, "You know we would never think that!"

Seta nodded in response, his facial orientation finally organized into a serious expression for the first time in Motoko's eyes.

Motoko looked back from the two and saw the almost pleading look in Tsuruko's eyes and the meaningful sincerity on Seta's face, probably expressed by the way his lips were pulled tightly together in a grim line.

"Do this for me," Tsuruko said.

Motoko thought for a while and decided that she might as well assent to their request, remembering how lonely she had been just a while ago and how this may be an opportunity for her to make sure that her sister doesn't get abused by the man.

"Fine," Motoko said, her resolve dissolving. Motoko glared to her brother-in-law to see if there was a look of regret on his face but was surprised to find none. In fact, he was smiling rather broadly. Strange, Motoko thought, very strange…

After having her belongings packed, which didn't take too long, as they soon realized that Motoko didn't have much possessions with her except for a few garments, accessories that can fill a small box, and her bokken and katana that she'd be condemned if she had abandoned them.

After travelling in Seta's car for half an hour, the car ride finally stopped and Motoko realized that they were finally there, at her new residence. Motoko somewhat clumsily climbed out of the car and found herself staring at a slightly aged, but large building. The building was tall, being three stories tall, and the entrance was graced by a fluffy pink door mat which brought out the homey feel to the building. The slates that adorned the roof tops were a elegant pink and the building emanated a warm feel, probably due to its slight resemblance to the dojo. The only difference was that it'd probably have more rooms and furniture in it than the dojo.

"It's an old run-down inn that our parents had left us," Seta told Motoko as he helped her out of her coat, "It was originally called Hinata Inn but when it got down to our hands, me and my bro didn't know what to do with it so we just made the entire place our house. The place may be a little shabby in appearance but me and my bro adored this place when we were young. Each crack and splinter in this building has our memories in them."

"I think I can understand," Motoko said as she thought back to the way that she'd thought of the dojo, and how much it resembled the way Seta was talking passionately about the inn.

"There's a lot of vacant rooms in here that we use as storage or utilities room such as a miniature library and a gaming quarters where we keep all our video games in."

"Our room is on the second floor, Motoko," Tsuruko said as she handed Motoko a pair of sandal like slippers. "Yours is going to be on the third floor."

"Am I the only who occupies that floor?" Motoko asked, can't help but wonder a bit whether they had purposely put her up there to prevent her from intruding on their lives.

"Nope. Keitaro, my boy, has his room there too." Seta replied whole-heartedly.

Motoko's eyes widened realizing that she'd be living on the same floor as the man who she had almost fallen in love with. "Umm…I don't think so, perhaps I'll take a room down here…"

"They're all used as storage rooms, Motoko," Tsuruko answered, " And besides, we've already gotten your room decorated for you. I'm sure you'll love it."

"Yea right," scoffed Motoko. This was getting bad…really bad…

"Has Tsuruko-san's sister arrived?" Motoko heard a familiar voice call out from upstairs.

"Yup! She's here!" Seta called back in his bear-like voice, which Motoko had just wished he would suppress, not that it would help anyways. Motoko had felt, at that moment, an urge beyond description's strength to hide behind her sister's long pants.

The footsteps thundered louder and louder as he approached ground level where Motoko was and Motoko gulped slightly as she watched where the staircase was, knowing that just any second now, the man's face would pop up again.

However, to her surprise, instead of walking down to greet her, Keitaro literally fell to his knees to meet her when he stumbled down the stairs.

The three sweat dropped as they watched Keitaro pull himself together once again.

For a man of his physique, he sure is clumsy, Motoko thought.

When she found herself looking at the man again after being slightly perturbed in her thoughts, she found her locked in a magnetic gaze with him. Keitaro's eyes were wide with surprise when he discovered that the sister of Tsuruko was actually the girl whom he had met at the ball yesterday night!

Since yesterday night, he had been thinking, non stop, about the girl who'd strolled past his life. He had thought that he would never be able to see this girl who had left such a deep mark on his memory under such a brief moment in time. He'd almost felt like the prince from the story, Cinderella, and put up posters to look for that girl again. Foolish of him, he should have noticed it right away when he recognized the similarities that she and her sister shared-the tall, slender figure, pale skin, and expressive eyes that played tantalizingly at his mind. He'd almost felt like running into her to embrace her in his arms to welcome her to his life once again, but refrained from doing so, knowing wise enough to not do something as stupid as this. He'd never get away from her impression of him as being a pervert if he'd done that. He gave himself a little mental pat on the back for thinking before his actions.

Motoko didn't want to look into Keitaro's eyes anymore, fearing that looking into them any longer would make her somehow physically or mentally blind. His eyes' colour was a deep brown that had almost seemed black in a way that made Motoko shuddered a bit under her skin. A tinge of pink was starting to rise to her cheeks as she felt her blood warm with the adrenaline that coursed through her body. She cursed lightly at herself for having skin that conveyed all her feelings to everyone. Whenever she was embarrassed, it didn't take long for others to realize that by seeing the blush that would appear on her face. She felt disadvantaged in a sense, always having her feelings apparent for others to judge. The lack of insecurity made her all the more determined to keep her feelings to herself in the attempt to protect herself.

"Motoko…" Keitaro said, as he reached his hand out to shake hers. Motoko shook herself out of her reverie as she landed her gaze on his hand. Slowly, she gripped it, electric shocks trailing down her spine and shook the hand briefly, for she didn't want to hold his hands any longer than she needed to. A second was enough, definitely enough.

**Fanficzgrl:** Okay, here's another wondddddderful chapter by me! Aren't you guys just all so gratified after reading this story? Awww….I'm touched. I really am! Thank you for all the support and I'll continue to work my hardest to keep the updates going. I guess I'm usually updating once a week now so please keep an eye out for **Melting Ice**. I, too, hope that I can melt your hearts with the warmth of this story :D Now go on! Click that button right there and write me a review. I know you want to XD


	5. Going to School!

**Anime: Love Hina**

**Genre: Romance/General**

**Rating: Pg 13**

_**Chapter Five**_

**Melting Ice**

_By Fanficzgrl_

_**Going to School!**_

That night, Motoko laid on the futon that she had brought withher to her new home. The place was considerably comfortable compared to her room at the dojo. Often, one requires some time to adjust to his or her new surroundings, but for some queer reason unexplained, Motoko found herself making herself at home almost instantly. It was to an extent that even scared her almost.

The room was warmed by a small electric heater that her sister had placed by the doorway. The small amounts of heat thatthe petitemachineslowly let out was enough to warm the whole room up with time. Although her room at the dojo was warm as well, her memoriesbeing the sources of insulation, this room was awfully a lot more comfortable under physical terms. Motoko looked around her room and found it rather roomy, just the way she liked it to be. Motoko smiled slightly, warmed by the thought that her sister had spent so much thought in designing her room.

A large window looked out into the dark blue sky and a small doorway led out to a balcony that connected with another room next to hers: Keitaro's room. Motoko blushed slightly at the thought and scolded at herself for thinking about him again. Tired from her day of bustling activity, Motoko's eyelids felt heavy and she soon fell asleep.

It was past midnight when Motoko heard sounds from outside thatstirred her awake. Motoko was known for her sensitive hearing, being alert always even when she's asleep. She supposed it was just a natural instinct that fostered in her with her training unintentionally. Motoko brushed aside her covers and wrapped a nearby blanket over her back. Carefully, she made her way towards the source of the sound. Surprised to find Keitaro instead of a robber or perhaps the off chance of an assassin standing on the balcony that joined hers, Motoko quickly retreated back into her room, and hid behind the sliding window doors, careful not to create any noise.

As Motoko calmed herself, realizing that her breath had become slightly ragged, she started wondering why Keitaro was standing on the porch so late at night. Motoko peeked out, trying to see what Keitaro was doing. She saw that in his hands was the handkerchief that he had lent her back at the ball the previous night. It was queer to Motoko that Keitaro was timidly smiling to himself, while gazing out at the luminous yellowish white moon hung across the sky. He's probably thinking about his evil intentions, a part of Motoko said while the other part of her debated against it, claiming that there may be something special between them. Motoko stilled for a while and then nonchalantly dismissed her train of thoughts since it was leading to nowhere. "It's none of my business anyways," Motoko thought, admittedly, a bit sad.

The next morning came quickly with the ringing of the clocks that were installed in the inn's building. Motoko could have sworn that there were at least ten of them in the house. Usually, Motoko wakes up early without the aid of foreign devices but today seemed to defy those laws that only seemed to function when Keitaro was not around. Motoko gave a sigh as she changed into her regular kendo outfit before descending the stairs to the kitchen. Knowing her sister, Motoko guessed that she probably still wasn't awake yet and decided to make breakfast for the family. However, to her surprise, before she even reached the kitchen, a heavenly aroma of food was already drifting to her nose, luring her to come closer. Curiousabout who was preparingsuch sinfully enticing food, Motoko couldn't help but peek into the kitchen to seek out the answer herself. Her sister had never been able to make food this good before!

Amazed, Motoko was slightly shocked to find Keitaro being the chef of the delicious-before-taste breakfast.

"Ohayou!" Keitaro greeted, when he turned from what he was doing.

Motoko was caught slightly off guard and almost choked her words out as she greeted him back. Keitaro smiled and led her to the kitchen where all the food that he had prepared was set neatly over the dining table.

"Wow," Motoko marvelled, "Did you make this?"

"Yup," Keitaro said, as he pulled Motoko into a seat, "Onichan always sleeps in and misses breakfast all together. He says a few extra hours of sleep is worth missing the food that I cook." Keitaro made a face that was kind of cute as he said that. "I'm the one who really cooks here."

Motoko smiled warmly, "I'm usually the one who prepares the meals at the dojo too."

Keitaro beamed and said, "That's great! I guess we'll both have to be the chefs of this house. Those two don't seem to be friendly with the kitchen."

_"This is great_," Keitaro thought, "_She seems to be feeling more at home now! I'm so glad!"_

"Wow you made all this!" Seta's voice bellowed as his tall figure entered into the room with Tsuruko following close behind him.

"Yup," Keitaro said happily.

"Since when did you make such a buffet for breakfast?" Seta asked with narrowing eyes that beheld slyness.

Keitaro shot him a death glare, trying to warn Seta to keep his mouth shut before he does anything harmful. "I _always_ make these breakfasts, onichan! You just miss them because you always sleep in!"

Seta smiled calmly and just took his seat, digging in tohis food. The vast array of food consisted of a small bowl of steamed rice for everyone, some varied dishes of grilled fish, rolled omelettes, pickles, and salad, and then followed by a bowl of hot miso soup. Like Seta said, it was a breakfast buffet…

Everyone started eating. Motoko didn't know which dish to try first so she decided to start her meal off with the soup. The soup was definitely scrumptious, its wonderful taste lingered on her her tongue, and itsheat circulated around her tummy, warming her. Motoko snuck a look at Keitaro who was starting with his bowl of rice and laughed when she saw specks of rice sticking onto his face.

Keitaro looked up from his bowl of rice, naively looked at Motoko and wondered why she was secretly chuckling at him.

"Keitaro," Seta said, his eyes pressed into thin lines, arched, when he smiled.

"Hmm?" Keitaro sasked, still unknowing of why people were acting so strange.

"Keitaro…" Seta said once again.

"YES!" Keitaro said starting to lose his patience. Seta's smile was getting awfully intimidating.

"Keitaro…." Seta said again, amusement definitely drawn on his face.

"Would you quit it already and tell me what's so amusing!" Keitaro exclaimed aloud in expiration.

"Your face is covered with rice," Tsuruko said calmly, finishing the lines for her husband. She was just stargint to get used to doing this…

Keitaro groped his face to feel for anything and found that his face was indeed, covered with sticky rice. He beamed with embarrassment and threw a shy glance at Motoko to see what her reaction was.

Motoko was obviously trying hard to conceal her chuckles.

Keitaro blushed even harder now that he realized that he must be putting off quite a very funny show. Beet red, Keitaro excused himself to the washroom to clean up.

After the laughs subsided, silence settled in and Tsuruko's voice was the first to speak.

"Motoko," Tsuruko said.

"Hai, Ane-ue?" Motoko answered.

"We've been thinking about things, Motoko," Tsuruko began.

"_Uh oh_," Motoko thought, "_it's never good when they say that."_

"And we think that it's best for you to go to school."

"Go to school!" Motoko's thoughts cried aloud.

"Yes," Tsuruko answered, "We think it's best for you."

"But I've never been to school before!" Motoko cried aloud, unbelieving ofwhat she had just heard.

"And that's exactly why you should go, Motoko," Tsuruko reasoned calmly with Motoko.

"But you never went to school and you're doing fine! You've always taught me what I needed to know. All our ancestors were taught at home. Why does that need to be changed now?" Motoko asked.

"Motoko!" Tsuruko's voice was getting loud now, anger threatening to show, "Yes it's true that I've never gone to school, but I'm regrettingthis now. I never got the same type of education thatmost people get and that has made me very disadvantaged. I never got time for anything else except for training.This tradition of teaching our successors is long overdue. We can't just stay in a standstill. We must move on! It's the only way that we can become better and the only way that we can keep our Aoyama name down tomorrow's paths. If we stay as we are now, everything around us improves, and we will be chosen against by nature's course. This is the law by which today's world follows. The strong lives, and the weak dies."

Motoko didn't know how to counter her sister's reason and again, her sister seemed correct. Motoko thought deeply for a while when Keitaro returned and shook her out of her thoughts.

"You don't need to think long, Motoko-chan," Seta said, as he looked Keitaro who was confused in the eyes. "Why don't you ask your sempai, Keitaro, here?"

"Sempai?" Motoko and Keitaro both cried aloud in unison.

"That's right," Seta said, "You two will be going to the same school."

"EH? NANI?" the two teens both exclaimed.

"We were deciding on a school to enrol you in and we thought that because you've never schooled with other kids your age before, that maybe having someone whomyou know by your side is better," Tsuruko said.

"Yeah, and furthermore, you two seem to be getting along so well."

Motoko blushed at that and was caught speechless.

"Motoko-chan's going to the same schoolas me?" Keitaro asked, still too astonished to register the news, "But that's not right ! I don't mean that I'm not happy about this but we still haven't asked for Motoko-chan's opinion on this yet. She might not agree to this…"

"And do you?" Seta asked inquiringly as he looked Motoko in the eyes.

"Umm…" Motoko stuttered as she tried to sort her thoughts out, only to be tooperturbed by everyone's stares and waiting looks to successfully complete doing so. Motoko glanced over at her sister once again and saw a look of hopefulness and anticipation and knew that she just couldn't break her heart.

"Fine," Motoko said, finally relenting. She released a pent up breath that she had subconsciously been holding down and quickly stole a glance at Keitaro who was apparently very happy.

"That's great! Motoko-chan!" Keitaro said, "We can be classmates!"

Motoko just smiled, uncertain of how to deal with Keitaro's excitement.

"We have your school uniform designed for you already and it's going to be shipped by tomorrow. That means that you'll be on time for your first class of the year!" Tsuruko cried with joy.

"Great…" Motoko said, hoping everyone didn't catch her slight tone of sarcasm. Ironically, no one did.

Later on, inthe afternoon, the daywas occupied by many shopping trips that Motoko and her sister had had to make. Motoko never knew shopping could be such an exhausting task. It used up more of her strength than practicing 5 hours of kendo straight. Tsuruko took Motoko to the bookstore to purchase the necessary stationary materials and some boutiques to buy Motoko some new clothes although she would mostly be wearing the school uniform at school. Motoko was almost certain that she'd bought more clothesthan she ever did in her life. Motoko wasn't the whiny type though and thus made no objections to what Tsuruko had forcedher go through. Besides, Motoko had never seen her sister sohappy before. It was in fact, Motoko admitted, quite fun to spend some time with her sister doing things together, albeit things that didn't suit her much.

The first day of school quickly arrived without any announcements, like a sword attack, Motoko thought, no warnings whatsoever. Motoko dressed in her newly bought uniform and found herself staring at a totally different her. Her navy blue uniform contrastedher pale skin and hazy greyish green eyes. Motoko wasn't sure whether it was better to tie up her hair or let it down and decided in the end, that simple was best, therefore leaving her hair as is. Motoko left her room, entered into the hallway and met Keitaro for the first time in his school uniform. Keitaro was in a black, neatly ironed uniform, the buttons lined neatly in a straight column.

"Ohayou," Motoko said meekly.

"Ohayou," Keitaro said, slightly nervous, rubbing the back of his head. It seemed like a habitual tendency that Keitaro rubs his head when he's nervous.

_"No wonder his hair is slightly ruffled in a boyish manner,"_ Motoko thought secretly to herself.

"You look wonderful today," Keitaro finally managed to compliment Motoko under all the nervousness that had raged inside him.

"Ari…gatou," Motoko thanked.

"Are you nervous?" Keitaro asked Motoko.

"Umm…a bit, I guess," Motoko answered truthfully.

"You guys!" Seta's voice interrupted them, "You better get going or you'll be late for your first day!"

"Hai!" they both answered in unison. They were somewhat startled by how well they complemented each other and shrugged it off as they headed outfor school.

The two walked to school together, keeping a fair distance away from each other which looked ratherawkward to passer-bys who wondered why the couple seemed so passive with each other.

Keitaro started whistling with the birds to shake off the tension that was growing among them and soon they arrived at the school building. Motoko was slightly impressed by the school's air of importance as it looked impressive and secretive as to what it beheld.

"Lets go check out which room you're in, Motoko," Keitaro said, as he led her to the boards where all the names of the new students were posted and their home room numbers conveniently beside.

"You're in room 12 D, Motoko!" Keitaro almost shouted suddenly, pointing a finger at where Motoko's name was.

"Which room is that?" Motoko asked, curious about why Keitaro was overreacting at that new fact.

"You're in the same homeroom as me, Motoko!" Keitaro cried aloud.

_"Great…,"_ Motoko thought, "_Just great…"_ This is going to be one hectic year…

**Fanficzgrl: **Okay! I'm finished. I was originally going to include something near the end as well but I'm tired and I need a bath. Sigh, I hope you guys liked this chapter! The other bit would have to continue on to the next chapter. Hehe…remember to read the next chapter as well! I promise that things would start juicing up pretty soon. I, myself, can't wait until the good stuff starts coming up. Major writing time! I've been having somany projects and tests lately. Evil teachers and their intentions to impede onmy updating rate. I shall not let them defeat me! Muahaha….okay, that's all of my rant for now. Until next time everyone! Ja!


	6. Warrior in School

**Anime: Love Hina**

**Genre: Romance/General**

**Rating: Pg 13**

_**Chapter Six**_

**Melting Ice**

_By Fanficzgrl_

_**Warrior in School**_

Slowly, Motoko and Keitaro both entered into their classroom. The hallway in which they had just passed through was crowded with people bustling about, all excited about the new school year.

As Keitaro and Motoko made their way to find themselves a desk, they spurred a bit of commotion.

"Keitaro-kun!" some boys' voices called out at once, "Who's that you got with you there?"

Keitaro caught sight of his friends, Haitani and Shirai, emerging amidst the crowd of people, heading towards Motoko and him. Keitaro laughed stupidly in embarrassment as Motoko looked at him, slightly puzzled.

"You finally got yourself a girlfriend, Kei-kun?" Haitani was the first to speak up.

"Yea!" Shirai added, his face slightly puffed, "You got yourself such a hot girlfriend and you didn't tell us! And to think we've always treated you as our best bud and told you all our secrets, what a friend YOU are!"

"You guys…" Keitaro said, embarrassed, before he was cut off by someone.

"I am not his girlfriend," Motoko bluntly stated before she found herself a vacant spot in the farthest corner of the room, next to the windows near the back.

Keitaro stood at his spot and wondered why Motoko was still behaving so indifferent towards him. She hadn't spoken to him much and whenever he had wanted to engage in a talk with her, she would end whatever conversation he had tried hard to stir up. At first, Keitaro had thought that Motoko was quiet towards him because she was shy and needed time to adjust to her new surroundings, her new family. However, after living with her for a while, her attitude towards him still hadn't changed one bit. On the contrary, it seemed as though she were trying even harder to be cold towards him. It was very queer and Keitaro didn't know what to think of his relationship with Motoko. Sighing, Keitaro quietly took a seat beside Motoko. He kept his stare on Motoko while settling into his desk, all the while trying to think of what was keeping them apart. He noticed Motoko secretly glancing over at him from her gaze at the maple trees outside the school window. Autumn was almost over and the maple trees have shed away almost all their large leaves, leaving the younger ones still attaching themselves dearly to a branch.

Motoko had felt a warm presence near her while she was trying to ignore everyone in the room. She had taken a glance to her right and realized that Keitaro was taking a seat beside her. Realizing that he had caught her staring (or she had caught him staringit's quite hard to tell since you both have to be looking at each other in order to catch each other staringright!), Motoko immediately removed her glance on him and returned her gazing out the window. School was so boring, Motoko thought. All you do is sit and then listen to chirpy girls around you gossip about the latest fad or boys in their own little groups discuss the next video game that's coming out. High school life…oh rejoice.

"Ano…umm….Keitaro sempai," a melodic voice surfaced beyond the sea of muffled chatters.

"Oh, Shinobu-chan, ohayou," Motoko heard Keitaro greeted. Motoko turned her head and found herself looking at a girl, younger than her, presumably in the lower grades.

"I've baked a batch of cookies from home economics and thought that you may like to try some," Shinobu said shyly as she held out a paper bag that smelled heavenly of fresh oven-bake cookies.

"They're Shinobu's special cookies!" Keitaro exclaimed, as the smell of the sweet cookies reminded him of the ones that Shinobu used to make for him last year.

Keitaro gratefully accepted Shiobu's gift and put his hand into the warm bag, pulling out a heart shaped butter cookie. Taking a bite out of the cookie, Keitaro suddenly realized something.

"Hey Shinobu-chan," Keitaro said, cookies still in his mouth.

"Hai, sempai," Shinobu answered.

"Didn't school just start? How did you make them in home-ec class?"

Shinobu's face suddenly appeared as red as a beet. Her mind desperately drove around thoughts that whirled her head, trying to find the best explanation that could help her explain. Improvising was never easy. After what seemed like forever to Shinobu, she finally decided upon the answer that she thought was best.

"Umm…well it's _another_ home-ec class," Shinobu spluttered out, nervousness obviously etching her every word, "It's out of school, and I take it early in the morning."

"Oh," Keitaro said, his hand in the middle of pulling out another cookie.

Shinobu's eyes dashed about, afraid that Keitaro would realize that she had actually secretly baked that batch of cookies for him early in the morning on her own accord.

"Okay," Keitaro warmly replied as his face was washed over by satisfaction, enjoying the cookies that Shinobu had made. Shinobu wasn't sure whether she should be glad or angry with Keitaro for always being so oblivious to others' feelings. Sighing, Shinobu excused herself and headed out the room.

"Shinobu-chan!" Keitaro called out after her. Shinobu spun around and met Keitaro's warmly smiling face.

"Yes?"

"Good luck for the next year, Shinobu-chan!" Keitaro called out above the noise in the room, "And thanks a lot for the cookies! They're great as usual!"

Shinobu smiled happily, her heart fluttering with warmness as she understood once again why she fell in love for the young man before her. He was so cute…!

After Shinobu left, Motoko watched Keitaro as he munched on the cookies, one after another, like he hadn't eaten anything for breakfast.

Keitaro noticed Motoko's watch and kindly offered Motoko a cookie but she declined. "I don't eat sweets." After a moment, Motoko decided to ask Keitaro, "You seem to be quite popular in this school, Keitaro."

Keitaro looked up at Motoko and face growing red, he quickly refuted, "No! Please don't misunderstand! There's nothing going on between me and Shinobu-chan! I promise!"

"I never said there was," Motoko plainly stated, purposefully looking unaffected. "I just said you were popular. I didn't say whom you were popular around. I meant you were popular around your two guy friends, but I guess you have other thoughts on your own popularity," was Motoko's sarcastic comment that followed before she turned her face around again to look out the window.

Keitaro looked fluster and just when he was about to defend himself again, another person approached him.

"Kei-kun," a bubbly girl's voice called, stopping him from explaining to Motoko.

Motoko turned around to meet Keitaro, "Someone's talking to you, Mr. Popular."

The girl who had approached Keitaro stood, eyes blinking as she tried to register what was playing before her eyes. Who was this girl that Keitaro had around with him?

"Oh Narusegawa-san," Keitaro said as he turned to face the girl who was standing behind him.

"Who's that new friend you have there?"

"Oh, she's my relative," Keitaro replied.

Naru suddenly beamed, feeling relieved to know that Keitaro's new "girl" friend was just a relative. "Is she your cousin?"

"Well…umm…she's my sister-in-law's sister," Keitaro replied, unsure of what the best term was to define his and Motoko's relationship.

"So you're not blood related?" Naru asked, astonished

"Yea…I guess you could say that," Keitaro said, wondering why Naru was overreacting.

Naru, then put on a pout on her face, and asked with narrowed eyes, "So, is she your girlfriend then, Keitaro?"

"Girlfriend!" Keitaro and Motoko both exclaimed in unison.

"I don't want such a foolish man as a boyfriend, " Motoko said, her face burning with embarrassment.

Keitaro too was embarrassed and nodded in agreement to what Motoko said.

"Good!" Naru exclaimed as she tugged onto one of Keitaro's arms, pressing herself onto him, which caused Keitaro to feel suddenly very uncomfortable.

"Ah, Narusegawa-san," Keitaro said, as he struggled to remove his arm from her tight clutch.

"Do away with the san-suffixes," Naru said, happily, "Just call me Naru or Naru-chan."

"Ah…Naru-chan," Keitaro said, trying to regain freedom of his arm.

"Yes?"

"…The teacher's here."

Naru quickly removed her clutch of Keitaro's arm and took a seat adjacent to Keitaro's. As Keitaro finally regained his peace, he glanced over at Motoko who scoffed at him. Keitaro knew that this was not going to be a good start.

The teacher came in with the regular greetings, telling the class her name and the standards of work that she expects from them, as such. She went over the rules and then started off the day with the first subject, math.

Motoko listened attentively to what the teacher was saying but was at a total lost of what she was trying to explain. She watched as the teacher drew circles and wavy lines on the green board with a white piece of utensil which she presumed was a piece of rock or something. Then, she started daydreaming about how many trees they must cut down to replace the board every time.

"Aoyama-san, Aoyama-san," a voice called out, shaking her from her reverie.

"Hai, teacher," Motoko said as she looked intensely into her teacher's eyes, which startled the teacher.

"I want you to come up and show me how you'll do this problem."

Motoko silently nodded and gulped as she walked up to the chalkboard, her legs slightly shaking, threatening to give way. She took the chalk from the teacher's hand and proceeded to the addition problem involved in the summation formula. She looked down at the white piece of chalk, thinking it is a piece of rock and then calling up her strength, she forcefully wrote on the board, and with the aid of her ki, she made marks on the smooth board.

The teacher stared at her, mouth agape. The teacher was definitely not accustomed to handling this sort of situation. "Umm… Aoyama san, please refrain from making indents on the board please."

"Huh?" Motoko questioned as she stared at the spot on the board that she had just wrote on, eyeing the neatly carved prints. "What's wrong with my writing?"

"You don't have to write that hard, dear," the teacher said, taking the chalk away from Motoko's hand. "All you need to do is lightly mark the board and the chalk would leave a trail from where u marked. Like this…" and the teacher showed Motoko how to use a chalk. Everyone in the classroom except for Keitaro started to giggle and smirk at Motoko's foolish mistake, causing Motoko to blush in embarrassment.

Motoko returned to her seat and remained silent while the class settled down. Shortly afterwards, the bell sounded, signalling everyone that lunch had begun. Motoko groped her way to the cafeteria where she found herself inside a room crowded with hundreds of people. She quietly sat at a vacant spot and took out her homemade lunch. As she began eating away, a couple of guys, about her age approached her.

"Whatch you got there gal," a sturdy looking boy said as he neared Motoko who decided it was best to ignore superfluous comments.

"Why you ignoring me, girl?" the guy said as he put an arm around Motoko.

"Take your dirty arm off me," Motoko coldly stated, her voice icy and venomous, "before I do something harmful to your body."

"Oh really," the leery boy stated as he moved even closer to Motoko, challenging her to keep her word. Motoko breathed in, and decided that the boy had left her no choice but to resolve to violence in the school. However, to her surprise, just when she was about to hit the boy with her elbow, Keitaro pulled the boy off her.

"Get away from her," Keitaro stated, his eyes warning the boys with his glare.

"Oh yea?" the boy said, "and who's going to make me, huh!"

"Me." Keitaro replied sternly.

The boys looked at Keitaro, surprised by his definite answer. Thinking that this guy must have some guts and strength, the boys were not as dumb as one would think, and chose to leave before they got themselves a real butt kicking.

"Phew," Keitaro said as he slumped into the seat next to Motoko's. "That was a close call."

"Why did you help me?" Motoko asked, her countenance away from Keitaro's vision as her hair shielded her eyes.

"Haha…." Keitaro laughed, trying to sound happy, "I guess it was a natural instinct…"

"I didn't need your help," Motoko told him.

Keitaro looked at Motoko, hurt by her comment. He wanted to ask her why she was being so cold to her but Motoko didn't give him a chance to when she gathered her lunch and ran away from the cafeteria, leaving Keitaro staring at her receding figure.

"Motoko-chan…"

**Fanficzgrl:** Hiya everyone! I hope you liked this chapter. I know it was a bit boring since I'm basically just trying to describe Motoko's new life at school. I tried my best to incorporate some humour into the story to make this chapter not as dry. I hope you found a few laughs or two, despite my obvious weak attempts of cracking a good joke. sighs Anyways, I just want to end this with a quick thanks to all those who remained loyal to this fic and have always took heart to leave a kind review, giving me comments and advice on what to do with this story. Thanks a lot! Anyways! Ja! And remember to click that blue button below to leave a review! Happy Spring Break!


	7. Knowing

**Anime: Love Hina**

**Genre: Romance/General**

**Rating: Pg 13**

_**Chapter Seven**_

**Melting Ice**

_By Fanficzgrl_

_**Knowing**_

Days passed and Motoko's behaviour towards Keitaro still didn't seem to change at all. She was still as cold as ever, refraining from speaking a single word with him. At school, she had been trying to avoid contact with him, working with the girl sitting in front of her instead of him when the teacher instructed them to work in pairs. During lunch, Motoko would sit outside in her own secret place under a large tree. Keitaro, on the other hand, knew that Motoko was doing this just to avoid sitting next to him, so decided against accompanying her for lunch, knowing that she would just move to find another spot the next day.

At home, their situation wasn't any better either. Motoko would design a cooking schedule to divide the shifts for when she and Keitaro were to work for the household. They would alternate between days of cooking and days of dishwashing, giving them less time to be together. Keitaro felt slightly hurt and insulted by this but he obligingly agreed to it, as long as it would make Motoko feel more comfortable around the household. Keitaro didn't know exactly why he was being so nice to Motoko or why he cared about her feelings so much, only knowing that he did. A certain concept also behaves in a similar fashion, but that word is too much to state in this chapter yet.

"Motoko-chan, are you in there?" Keitaro asked as he knocked on Motoko's bedroom door.

"Hai, what is it?" Motoko's voice bellowed from inside her room, her door not even opened when she said that.

"Umm…I just wanted to know whether you're hungry right now. I made some snacks for you," Keitaro answered.

"Oh," Motoko said, her voice silent almost as if she were talking to herself only.

Keitaro waited for a response, but was surprised to find Motoko sliding open the door to her room.

Motoko stared down at the tray that Keitaro was holding and discovered that Keitaro had made her an afternoon tea snack, with a nice pot of boiling green tea steaming on one side of the tray and a plate of cookies teasing her senses at another.

Motoko took the tray from Keitaro's hands and entered into her room, while Keitaro remained standing outside. Realizing Keitaro wasn't following her, Motoko turned her back slightly and said, "What are you waiting out there for? The snacks are going to get cold."

Keitaro's eyebrows were raised into an upward arch, and his mouth threatened to fall agape when he heard Motoko's invitation. His face lighting up, Keitaro quickly sat down by Motoko's study desk. It was one of those Japanese style tables called a kotatsu where the desk was positioned close to the floor and underneath it, Motoko had installed a warm heater to help keep herself warm. Keitaro poured Motoko and himself a cup of tea, and then handed Motoko a cream filled cookie that he had just baked. Motoko stared at the cookie and found that it had fresh strawberry pieces on top of the cream, making her mouth water just a slight bit.

The two of them ate quietly and enjoyed the great tasting food. There was no conversation that stirred between them and the air suddenly felt a lot thicker than usual. Keitaro coughed a bit, ready to spur another one of his hopeless but at least thoughtful talk but was interrupted by Motoko saying "Thank you for the snack. I'm afraid I need to study now."

Keitaro took it as his cue to leave and excused himself. As the door closed slowly behind him, the creaking sound seemed as if it were foreboding an ominous omen about what was to become of his relationship with Motoko. Saddened by Motoko's unchanging indifference, Keitaro proceeded downstairs to begin on that night's dinner.

Back inside Motoko's room, Motoko had been secretly listening to Keitaro's footsteps descending the stairs. When his steps slowly grew inaudible, Motoko heaved out a sigh to drain out what she had been unconsciously holding down. Motoko leaned against her door and stared above at the ceiling, watching the light above her glow. Her vision became blinded by the strong light as she stared at it for too long. Darkness overtook her vision and she slowly removed her glare of the lights. From away, Motoko's eyes would look like they had been turned a hazy fusion of green and deep grey. There was a void in those eyes and to Motoko's assurance, she knew no one was able to see through it, no one was able to see the turmoil tormenting her on the inside. An edge of Motoko's mouth twitched upwards, making as if she were smirking.

"_What is wrong with me?" _Motoko began to question her sanity, "_Why am I feeling so confused right now? Isn't he the one whose family stole the only person dear to me? Why is he being so nice to me though? And why am I feeling as if I'm losing my resolve? Damn this…"_

Motoko thought for a while, but decided after moments of internal turmoil that it'd be best to keep the facts as Keitaro being nice to her only because he wanted her away from their family business. Her thoughts slightly frustrated, Motoko resumed her studies. It was rather hard for Motoko to adapt to her new school environment and Motoko wanted to try her best so that she wouldn't disappoint her sister.

Down at the kitchen, Keitaro was busying himself with that night's dinner. He wanted to make Motoko the best dinner ever to cheer her up, knowing that she must have had a hard time at school to be therefore that cranky all the time. Keitaro didn't blame her thoughit was hard adjusting to a new environment. Keitaro experienced so too when he was still a young boy around the age of 10, having to follow his brother, Seta, around when his job changed (which occurred a little too often). Keitaro heaved a sigh, and murmured a silent prayer hoping Motoko would accept the big family sooner.

Dusk fell quickly over the city, and it was soon mid-afternoon. Dinner was prepared but Seta and Tsuruko weren't home because of a dinner party that they needed to attend to. The dinner table was just set for two.

"Umm…Motoko?" Keitaro called as he knocked on her door from the outside. There was no answer. "Motoko! Dinner's ready!" Still, no answer.

Keitaro was confused as to what he should do. Should he barge in? But what if she was changing! He'd been into one of those embarrassing situations before when he was helping a teacher search for a girl. People started calling him a hentai then, but it really wasn't his intention to go peeking at girls' underwear or anything…

Keitaro contemplated for a while and with the scary thoughts of what might have happened to Motoko popping up in his mind, Keitaro gathered his courage and rushed in. When he entered into Motoko's room, he found her form lying on the table, motionless. A sudden fear rushed through Keitaro as he wondered whether she had fainted or not. Each step he took brought him one step closer to Motoko, and ultimately, one step closer to an answer of the question that he was thinking in his mind. _Was Motoko dead?_

Motoko was so still, so still that Keitaro chastised himself when he heard himself breathing. When he finally reached Motoko after what seemed like a really long pause, Keitaro kneeled beside Motoko and looked down upon her peaceful looking face. He placed an ear close to Motoko, concentrating to listen in for evidence that Motoko was indeed, still alive. As he did that, he was slightly shocked to hear no sounds of breathing. He turned his head quickly to face Motoko, ready to shake her awake but as he turned, his hair brushed past Motoko's nose, causing her to wrinkle cutely (to Keitaro at least) at the tickly sensation. Ketiaro felt relieved and he then placed a hand over Motoko's forehead to see whether she had come down with a fever and it appeared that she did. Gathering himself up, Keitaro hurried to find himself some extra blankets to cover Motoko while she was sleeping. He didn't want to awake her from her deep slumber, so he proceeded quietly.

It was night now in Hinata Sou. Motoko stirred in her sleep, rubbing her eyes as she awoke from her sleep. As she raised herself from her lying position, she felt the blankets that Keitaro had covered her with slide down her back and quickly she caught them before they dropped.

"_What are these blankets doing here?"_ Motoko wondered. When she finally saw Keitaro sleeping outside her doorway in the hallway, Motoko realized that Keitaro must have applied them on her. He had purposely slid open the door in order to look over Motoko, but had taken the courtesy to sleep outside in the hallway so Motoko wouldn't be angry with him for sleeping in her room. Thanks to Keitaro, and that great afternoon nap, Motoko felt rejuvenated and a lot better than before.

Carefully, Motoko got up, and decided to head downstairs to find something to eat, following the wishes of her stomach that was now growling with hunger.

"Motoko-chan! You're awake!" Keitaro cried aloud as he got up.

"Yeah…"

"How are you feeling? You had a fever! Are you alright now? Do you want me to cook you something to eat? How about I…" He was cut off when Motoko suddenly interrupted his long line of speech.

"Why are you so worried about me for, Urashima!" Motoko cried out as the tears that she had been holding in for a long time decided to stream down her face at that moment as if it would make the mood a lot better. She couldn't bare it anymore. Any further, she'll explode. "Stop being so nice to me! I know what you're trying to do! I won't try to get Ane-ue back okay! I won't disturb your picture-perfect family! Just stop doing this to me! Stop playing with my heart! I don't want that!"

Keitaro's eyes widened when he heard what Motoko said. _Playing with her heart! He would never do that! What does she mean!_ "Motoko…I'm not trying to play with your heart! Why do you have that impression?"

"Stop pretending no more Keitaro. I know your plan already. At the ball," Motoko choked slightly in her tears, "you were talking to Seta about trying to divert my attention away so that I would leave your family alone. It's okay now, Urashima! I won't! You can stop worrying about me now!"

"Motoko, I'm not!"

"You are!"

"I'm not!"

Knowing, she couldn't win with this guy, Motoko rushed past him, only to be caught by Keitaro's rough, but caring hands. He gripped onto Motoko's wrist, stopping her from running away, but because he was careful not to hurt Motoko, Motoko was able to break free when she shook forcefully at Keitaro's hand. Her heart torn by the pain of losing Keitaro, Motoko quickly plunged outside of Hinata Sou, and into the rain. Immediately, upon leaving Hinata Sou and Keitaro, she felt a sudden loss of warmth, both physically and mentally. Meeting Keitaro had brought warmth to her heart, but this heat had not stayed long enough to warm her heart. Now, this heat was gone already. Motoko felt her cold self returning, the demon of loneliness cackling with laughter as it prepared itself to devour Motoko whole again. Motoko ran and ran. Her foot steps echoed the pained that her heart was feeling now. They sounded like the knives that were stabbing mercilessly at her heart right now. _One. Two. Three. Four. _Her heart was being torn into pieces that she was sure could never be repaired. The world spun before her, and as she looked up, finally coming to a full stop, she saw the rainfall dancing around in circular motions above her head. Smiling weakly, Motoko allowed herself to drop onto her knees. She was overtaken by fatigue. Her fever had worsened and her legs were now tired from running so quickly in the rain. As she fell to the ground, she felt a pair of strong, warm arms carry her into a warm chest. Motoko stared meekly in fatigue at the arms' owner and found Keitaro's worried face looking upon her. "Keitaro…" Motoko weakly whispered, before she fainted. In her unconsciousness, the last thought that she had was of how warm and safe being in Keitaro's embrace was. It was almost too comfortable for her liking. She was scared she'd get addicted to this warmth, but only to find it leave her in the end.

Life sucks…

"Motoko…" Keitaro sobbed, as he looked down upon Motoko's pale face, "You've mistaken…Motoko!"

Fanficzgrl: Hello everyone! I'm so sorry this update took one week later than planned. I had a lot of homework and I had work experience during the spring break. Gomen ne! I'll be sure to keep these updates coming next time! Please forgive me! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as it's a precursor for many more intimate scenes between Keitaro and Motoko which I'm sure you'll all enjoy! Anyways! Thanks for reading and please, please leave a kind review, and give me encouragement to boost my writing stamina! Arigatou!


	8. Heartbroken Heart Healed?

**Anime: Love Hina**

**Genre: Romance/General**

**Rating: Pg 13**

**_Chapter Eight_**

**Melting Ice**

_By Fanficzgrl_

_**Heartbroken…Heart healed?**_

Motoko stirred in her sleep. Her eyes shifted from one side to another behind her lids as she strained to arrive at consciousness. When she finally managed to force her eyes opened, she found herself lying on top of her futon in her room. The room was silent, as if nothing different had happened or changed. Everything was as if it had been before...before _something_ had happened. That something, Motoko wasn't sure of what it was.

Suddenly a knock was heard from the screen door, and a voice reached in to her.

"Motoko," the voice called, attempting to intrude on her personal space.

The voice was had a familiar quality to it that Motoko recognized and her mind raced around thoughts, trying to identify who it was. Realization suddenly struck; the owner of the voice was Keitaro! One realization followed another, and Motoko very quickly recalled all the events that had happened the night before. Now that realization was possible, embarrassment followed as well.

"_How could I have been so rash yesterday?"_ Motoko rebutted herself, "_That was totally unlike me. Now Keitaro would think I'm some total freak who's incapable of handling stress appropriately! Argh, what am I to do?"_

"Motoko-chan," Keitaro called once again, ready to give up if still no answer replied.

"Oh, yes, what is it Keitaro?" Motoko asked.

"Oh, you're awake, Motoko," Keitaro said, "I was about to leave, thinking you're still asleep."

"Oh, no, I'm not," Motoko replied quietly, almost as if the reply was for herself.

Silence claimed the atmosphere, Keitaro waiting for Motoko to open the screen door, and Motoko not knowing whatever was best to do.

"Motoko," Keitaro finally spoke.

"Yes?" Motoko peeped.

"About yesterday..."

"Oh! Yesterday, I just wasn't feeling well," Motoko quickly intervened, "Don't think too much about it."

"Yes, I understand, but..." Keitaro began, "I think there are some things that need clearing up."

"No, there isn't," Motoko said sternly, wanting to end the conversation right then.

"There is!" Keitaro's quiet voice turned loud suddenly.

Motoko was caught by surprise and decided to leave Keitaro to speak. It was funny speaking behind screen doors, Motoko thought.

"Motoko," Keitaro said, "I understand that there might have been a little misunderstanding between you and me..."

"There isn't!" Motoko denied, once again, in desperation.

"There is!" Keitaro countered, his voice sounding frustrated as ever. "You think that I'm only being nice to you just because I want you out of our family's ways, because we don't want you interfering on Oni-chan's marriage." Keitaro waited for Motoko's deniable but it never came, so he continued, "There's something that I want to know you, and that is, I'm NOT! I'm not playing with your heart, Motoko—I'm not! You got to believe me!"

"Then why are you being so nice to me for?" Motoko finally asked.

"I'm being kind to you because I really DO care about you. That I l--", and his voice trailed to a silence.

Both Keitaro and Motoko's face brightened with embarrassment when the words were almost slipped. Their hearts raced with excitement and both knew not what to say. They were speechless.

Finally, after long moments of stillness, Keitaro spoke up, "I understand why you would have mistaken Motoko-chan. That day, Seta was pulling a joke on me and I just played along with him. I had no intention on hurting your feelings at all. You may be mad at me right now, and righteously so too, but I just hope that you won't feel bad anymore. Seeing you hurt…hurts me even more. I don't know how to say it, Motoko, but you can hate and hurt me, but just don't pain and pressure yourself anymore, okay. I'll leave now."

Tears were streaming down Motoko's face without her mind even registering it.

"Keitaro…" Motoko let out a sigh that she had been holding down. The awkward atmosphere had left.

"Umm…Motoko," Keitaro's voice came back again.

"Yes?" Motoko answered, a little surprised that he had come back.

"I…err…thought you might need to take your medicine since you still have a fever, so I'll just put your medicine outside and you can pick it up whenever you feel like taking it."

"Alright."

With that, Motoko heard Keitaro's steps slowly descending down the stairs again.

Groaning with frustration, Motoko crouched herself into a tiny ball and cried out in exasperation. Everything was just too confusing now. Could she really have mistaken about Keitaro? She didn't want to think about that answer, or perhaps, she was just too afraid to know the truth.

A while passed and Motoko's fever soon receded thanks to the medicine and a little rest. The sun was starting to set and Motoko then realized that she had slept through the entire afternoon and her stomach was now complaining loudly in hunger. It gurgled at her in frustration for not sating its hunger. Motoko heaved a sigh, unable to decide whether it's better to endure the physical pain of her hunger or the emotional pain of having see Keitaro again. In the end, she decided to satisfy her physical demands and hoped to whichever god responsible for Chance or Fate that she wouldn't encounter Keitaro downstairs.

Just when Motoko was about to leave the room, sliding open her door, Keitaro was standing just outside her room, his hands carrying a tray of food.

"Umm…I'd thought you might be hungry so I made you a bowl of udon to eat," Keitaro laughingly replied.

"Oh, I see," Motoko stuttered, "Umm…well, thank you." With that, she took the tray from Keitaro's hands, bowed her thanks and quickly slid back closed the door. Keitaro's being too kind to her, Motoko thought, a little too kind. Sighing, Motoko took a bite of her noodles and felt the warmth from the food overtake her, giving her a rising sense of well-being.

Feelings may change, as attitudes do too, but nonetheless, the rising never fails to forget to rise beyond the horizons of mother earth. Motoko woke up the next day, feeling all better and perhaps, slightly refreshed. Her sister had returned home knowing Motoko was sick, and had taken care of her throughout all of last day. Motoko was starting to accept the fact that her sister hadn't changed after the marriage---at least she still cared for her the same way she had before. The only thing that was perhaps different was that Tsuruko was a lot more open now; by open the meaning is being accepting of new things and allowing herself be seen the way she is on the inside by people. Motoko was seeing a side of her sister that she had never seen before. Tsuruko was always smiling now, happy everyday and Motoko was beginning to love this new ane-ue that Tsuruko had become. Seta-san was also being nice to her and she felt at ease now conversing with him. He may seem clumsy at times, but this clumsiness, liked by Tsuruko, is also liked by Motoko. Living with her new family was becoming more natural now, as if life had been like this all along.

Now the only trouble was: Keitaro.

Keitaro was being extremely kind, this kindness creating ever more inner frustration in Motoko. Motoko just wished that he could be some despicable teenage boy, who is like all others---selfish, inconsiderate, lazy, so that she could feel no guilt in hating him with all her heart. As much as she tried, she couldn't manage to hate Keitaro. In the end, Motoko decided that it was better to keep things as they were, as if nothing had happened so that she needn't think about how to behave in front of Keitaro now that she knew what she had been angry with was just a misunderstanding. Keitaro silently seemed to be complying with this idea, as he showed no intention to change things as they were.

On to school, Motoko and Keitaro went, as "normal" as ever. The two talked briefly to each about the upcoming school events and some of the topics at school---nothing too serious that would involve a long conversation. When they finally arrived, they took their seats, and listened conscientiously as their teacher talked about the upcoming field trips.

"Very soon, we will be going to the Hanabishira Island where we will be excavating ancient artifacts from a prehistoric turtle civilization," the teacher informed the class.

Loud cheering noises enveloped the classroom atmosphere as the teacher proceeded with his speech.

"However, apparently, our school budget is running slim, and the school can not afford to fund such a grand expedition outdoors," continued the teacher, followed by groans of disappointment from the students, "but, I have decided that we will still participate in this event, as it is relative to our course studies and is a great experience for all of you. To do this, I have decided that we will host a school fundraise campaign in order to build up our school funds. How's that everyone?"

"Yes! That's great sensei (teacher)!"

"Alright, calm down everyone," the teacher said, "We'll need some ideas on how to fundraise though, does anyone have any suggestions?"

Hands rose quickly and everyone waved with excitement, trying to tell the class the clever ideas that raced through their minds.

"How about setting up a food stand to sell Japanese sweets," one girl with pony tails asked.

"Oh! I know! We can set up performances and sell tickets to those who wishes to attend" another cried out, her movements dramatic, hinting that perhaps she could be an asset of an acting cast.

"Umm…everyone could bring their stuffed animals to class and we can sell them to people?" a timid girl suggested.

Keitaro smiled as he listened to everyone's ideas. Shifting his glance at Motoko, she saw that her face had somewhat paled and she was mumbling something under her breath anxiously.

"Ah, Motoko-chan?" Keitaro whispered to his side.

"Huh!" Motoko gasped out suddenly, shaken from her reverie.

"Are you alright?" he asked, "You look a little green and shaken up. Is anything the matter?"

"Oh no," Motoko replied, "Nothing's wrong…"

"Oh, alright," Keitaro said, accepting Motoko's answer, but was somewhat sceptical about its honesty. He listened on to everyone's suggestion afterwards.

"Oh…what am I going to do!" Motoko asked herself, nervously, "What am I going to do? A turtle civilization…turtles…probably lots of them too" Motoko felt herself feeling more upset and wondered whether her face was turning as green as she felt…as green as a turtle even, maybe.

**Fanficzgrl:** Hey everyone! I'm extremely sorry for the long update. It's been two months since I last updated, huh? You'd all be thinking, "Fanficzgrl is sooo LAZY!" I know! But please, don't kill me! I have reasons too! As most of you know, it's almost summer break and for teachers, it is their nature to turn evil around this time of year. Sadly, I've been having many projects, and some upcoming final exams as well. sighs sadly I really do want to update badly, so please, bear with me! I hope you guys haven't lost interest in this fic, as it is getting to the fun part very soon. Hope you'll all continue to support this fic, and I want to shout out my thanks to those who reviewed and gave me the support and encouragement in writing this fic! Thanks all!


	9. Sponsor me! Onegai!

**Anime: Love Hina**

**Genre: Romance/General**

**Rating: Pg 13**

**_Chapter Nine_**

**Melting Ice**

_By Fanficzgrl_

_**Sponsor me! Onegai!**_

Not long after the teacher's announcement of the fundraise campaign, classroom committees have already been set up. There were students responsible for the traditional Japanese sweets stands, others for the performances act, while still there were the few passionate ones who were active supporters of their stuffed-animals sale campaign.

Motoko sat unresponsively at her desk, hoping that by keeping silent, her presence would somehow become nonexistent---until the dismissal bell rang, at least.

"Motoko-chan, I signed up for the performances act, what are you planning to do?" a girl's voice asked her.

"Uhh…" Motoko said, without looking at the person, for she was already annoyed of having been noticed, "The magical act of becoming transparent?"

"Wow! Motoko-chan! I never knew that you could perform that kind of magic! I have always wanted to see someone disappear before my eyes"

"Yeah and umm… I'm supposed to be invisible now, if you don't mind?"

The puzzled girl stared at Motoko and wondered whether she was joking. Feeling uneasy standing there, and unsure of what to do, the girl decided that it was best not to pull the elastic further, and add tension to the already tense atmosphere, so she left.

"Motoko!" another voice called to her.

Motoko grimaced and growled under her breath. "WHAT!" she scowled aloud. Out of her expectations, Motoko realized that it was Keitaro who had spoken to her.

"I'm sorry, I'm not feeling myself today. Maybe it's my hormones." Motoko shrugged as Keitaro tried to understand her by staring at her facial expressions.

"So, have you picked a committee to join yet?" Keitaro asked.

"Uh...not yet," Motoko said, "Any suggestions?" Not that she cared…

"Umm…well, I think Motoko-chan would do well in the performances act. You could perform kendo in front of everyone! It would be spectacular."

"Yeah…only there's one problem and that's that I don't perform circus acts. My kendo skills aren't for performing in front of people." Motoko was aggravated.

"Oh…um..." Keitaro stammered nervously in realization that he had unconsciously trespassed on a forbidden ground. "How about the stuffed-animals sale? All the girls seem to like it very much."

"I don't, and besides, I don't have any stuffed-animals…"

"Oh? Well, how about the Japanese sweets stand? Tsuruko knows the recipes of some of the traditional Japanese sweets, so I'm sure she would be more than happy to offer you some advice."

Motoko struggled to think of an excuse but found herself incapable of doing so, so reluctantly, she agreed. Of course, she had made sure that before she signed up for the Japanese sweets stand that she gave Keitaro the accusing stare. The stare that seemed to say, It's all your fault Urashima Keitaro that I have to go through this ordeal! ALL YOUR FAULT INDEED! NOW YOU CAN REGRET ALL YOUR LIFE FOR INFLICTING THIS PAIN ON ME. YOU'LL REPENT FOREVER! Or not… Motoko sighed in exasperation, accepting the truth even if it was as unfair and as unreasonable as it was.

Keitaro. Curse you.

Motoko was still angry with him. She knew that she was being deranged but she couldn't help it. Maybe it _was_ her hormones, after all.

At the Urashima residence, dinner was served and conversation as usual was attempted. Seta, like always, tried to make a story from his encounters at work, which usually ends up sounding more boring than before he started elaborating. An A for effort, an F for result.

"So what happened at school today?" Tsuruko endeavored having the two young ones speak up instead.

"Umm…we're having a fundraising campaign for a school field trip. I'm going to be in a drama. Don't know which role I'll be playing yet though, since there's still the audition and everything, but Motoko's going to be in the Japanese desserts team."

"Oh?" Tsuruko said, her interest piqued when she heard that Motoko was going to participate. It wasn't like Motoko to do traditional cooking and she remembered that Motoko would never do anything that she didn't like, even if force was employed. She remembered once when they were still kids and Tsuruko had tried to drag Motoko to go on one of those amusement park rides—you know, the ones that spin you around until you puked out last night's dinner?--- but Motoko wouldn't go. She even fought her in a kendo battle in the end, but it was hopeless since Motoko was unrelenting. Tsuruko learned then, that no one could make Motoko change her decision, no matter what, once her mind had been set on something. Perhaps now, Motoko was really softening up. Maybe Keitaro really did have an effect on Motoko's heart…

Motoko remembered what happened that day and felt annoyed again. In frustration, she started moving her chopsticks in fury in her rice bowl, practically pouring rice down her throat. The three sweatdropped as they stared at Motoko pigging out, which was rare sight of course, not to mention that it was an interesting, rare sight.

"Motoko?" Tsuruko queried, stopping Motoko in the middle of her eating her third bowl of rice.

"Yeah?" Motoko said.

"I could help you with the desserts stand if you want. I have some good recipes if you need any."

"Oh, okay."

And the dinner table resumed its usual order afterwards.

The next morning at school, Keitaro was rehearsing for the skit that his group was going to perform. Not of his choice, but Keitaro's group had decided to perform the play: the Sleeping Beauty.

Keitaro had already won the role of the prince, convinced by the teacher that he was best suited for performing as prince, and that no other student could perform the role better than he could. The role of the princess, however, was still on debate.

Apparently, Narusegawa Naru seemed very interested in the role of princess, indeed, pouncing across the room, fluttering her dress here and there, and everywhere. She had put on a hell of a spectacle.

Keitaro, wiped away the sweat that was forming on his forehead, and made shifty glances over at Motoko who was steaming in displeasure, but ignoring Keitaro's glances nonchalantly, making as if she didn't give a damn about what he does.

Keitaro heaved a loud sigh as Naru continued making dramatic speeches with enough vigor that could even put her as a possible candidate of the school's drama queen of the year. She'd definitely be shortlisted. No doubt about it.

Meanwhile, Motoko continued to strive for regaining her attention, which had been very mischievous, and had been not listening to Motoko's demands of ignoring Keitaro, lingering to what the drama crew was doing instead.

"Motoko-chan!"

"Hai!" Motoko cried aloud, knocked out of her reverie.

"What will you be making for the dessert stand?"

"Umm…I'm going to make peanut mochis, they're the only traditional Japanese treat that I know how to make."

Motoko blushed with embarrassment when she had said that, scared that others would laugh and snicker at her for her limited culinary skills. Surprisingly, no one did and Motoko relaxed a bit. Only a bit.

"Why don't you come up and show us to make them, Motoko?" the coordinator of the dessert making group asked.

"Alright," Motoko stammered with nervousness. Her hands were shaking despite her efforts to gain control of them.

"First, you uh…mix the glutinous-rice flour with sugar." Motoko smiled weakly as she poured the cups of sugar into the bowl of rice flour. She then attempted to mix the flour together with a spatula as instructed by Tsuruko when she had shown her how to at home last night. Unfortunately, Motoko was still much too nervous about her first time cooking and her first time cooking in front of everyone, that her hands continued to shake uncontrollably, sending like quakes down into the bowl of dry ingredients.

Motoko eyes widened as flour and sugar particles started rising up, clouding her vision, and possibly many others' too. "Hehe…umm…well, while you're mixing the flour and sugar, you should add in the hot water right about now." That having said, Motoko, forgetting what Tsuruko had instructed about pouring the boiling water in slowly, dumped the entire cup of hot water into the bowl, and sent thousands of different sized projectiles of glutinous globs in every possible direction.

Now there was only a small amount of the batter left and Motoko, apologetically cleaned up the mess that she had created. "From this point on," Motoko said tiredly, "you would cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and poke holes through the plastic wrap cover to let steam out as the bowl sits in the microwave on high for 8 minutes."

When the mixture had finished its bathing in luscious microwave light waves, it had already settled into a dough-like form and Motoko showed everyone how to properly knead the mochi dough. Despite her previous frivolous attempts at making a good batter, Motoko proved herself to be a remarkable kneader if there is such a word. The much practice that Motoko had performed in Kendo had developed her strong arms, resulting in her efficiency of dough kneading. Who knew her skills in Kendo could come in handy in the kitchen?

After kneading the dough, Motoko pinched off a small teaspoonful size of dough, rolled it into a perfect sphere and allowed the sphere to bathe in a plateful of peanut powder---the store-bought, already ground up type---before it was allowed to set.

Several minutes passed and the mochis were now ready for sampling. Everyone took a small mochi and delivered them into their mouths. The mochis were warm and soft, slightly chewy, and sweet, perfect for the palate of anyone from as young as 3 to someone as old as 80. It was perfect.

"Motoko-chan! These little treats are delicious! They're so yummy!" Compliments showered Motoko as Motoko gawked at them.

Motoko stood there, stunned by the compliments and praise that she was being thrown at with. She was so sure that they would spit the mochis out and curse her for giving them something so disgusting and terrible to eat! Oh how she was wrong! How wrong indeed! They loved them!

"Hey everyone! Come try Motoko-chan's mochis! They're delicious!" the girl holding up the platter of mochis called, initiating a tide of hungry students coming their way.

Keitaro, too, walked up and took a mochi, popping the little dumpling relative into his mouth. Keitaro's eyes widened in response to the great taste of the mochi, he surprised by the scrumptiousness of the mochis as well. "They're delicious, Motoko-chan! I never knew you were such a good cook! Haha! You had better make more at home tonight!"

Motoko's heart warmed at Keitaro's compliment, but remembering Keitaro's several intimate scenes with the girls, Motoko quickly masked her happiness and said, "I'll make more at home for sure, but I'm afraid you would be too busy preparing for the skit to come home for dinner. I'm sure there are many girls in your group, though, whom are more than happy to make you anything that you would want to eat."

Motoko turned to leave but was caught by Keitaro's strong grasp at her wrist. "But I want you to make them for me, Motoko. Only yours would I eat them." Keitaro whispered huskily into Motoko's ears as he slowly released hold of her wrist. Upon hearing those words, a prickly sensation washed down Motoko's spine, leaving a tingling, but warm feeling behind. Motoko stood still, wondering what those words had meant. Keitaro, meanwhile, had already been dragged back to the group to rehearse the lines of the play.

"Oh! What beauty have I chanced upon!" Keitaro cried aloud as he pretended to find a princess on her deathbed, "Why is such beauty lying there with her eyes closed. And those cherry red lips! Oh, how I wish I could kiss them and make everything alright again; and she would wake for me and smile with those cherry red lips of hers" Keitaro continued reciting his lines aloud as he glanced over at Motoko who was still standing there, with a flushed face, visible of embarrassment. Keitaro chuckled silently to himself and thought, _how kawaii (cute)!_

**Fanficzgrl:** Ok that's it for now folks! I'm officially tired! I'm sorry if this was a late update since I was really sick last week. Some crappy flu right after I finished my school exams. Oh the joy! I celebrated summer break with a flu Maybe I'll write something called: Me and My friend, Flu: How we passed our first week of summer. I'm sure it'd be –very—interesting. Anyways, so sorry once again, I'll make sure the next one will come no later than by the end of the next week k! Even sooner if you all start reviewing now too! Haha, anyways thanks for reading and hope you all will enjoy the summer break! Drink lots of fluids and beware of the nasty flu bug !


	10. Motoko, Keitaro, Gambatte!

**Anime: Love Hina**

**Genre: Romance/General**

**Rating: Pg 13**

**_Chapter Ten_**

**Melting Ice**

_By Fanficzgrl_

**_Motoko, Keitaro---Gambatte!_**

The day of the fundraising event slowly crept close, and alas arrived. It seemed as if it had only been yesterday when everyone was still beating themselves for the perfect campaign strategy. In the end, the numerous suggested options simmered down to three: the desserts booth, the stuffed-animals booth, and the skit---Sleeping Beauty, which was to be performed by several students chosen for the role----the prince, Keitaro, and the princess, Naru.

All the cast for the play were dressed in their specially designed costumes tailored by the costumes committee. Naru was dressed in a seventeenth century style English dress with her corset wrapped tightly around her chest. Keitaro, on the other hand, was dressed in a shiny black coat with highly sophisticated embroidery designs of a time period probably contemporary to that of Naru's costume. The costumes of the other cast consisted of similar style of dresses and gentlemen suits similar to the two main protagonists', the only difference being the lower degree of attention paid on trivial details.

The stuffed-animals booth was already set and ready for business. Several girls---dressed in cute pink outfits and wearing fake cats' ears or noses on their heads--- were prompt behind the cashiers and ready for business. The stuffed animals that students in the classroom had contributed were already strategically set up in a display that's meant to attract the attention of whoever was to come into the room, luring him or her to the booth and enticing him or her to purchase a stuffed-animal. The entire set up, although with a sweet and innocent atmosphere, was actually prepared cunningly with a direct and forceful purpose: to empty its customers' wallets before having him or her leave the booth----like a candy store; innocent yet evil at the same time.

The group responsible for the desserts—which Motoko was in--- had already rehearsed several times in each of their own kitchens at home the art of making traditional Japanese sweets. Now they were prepared and ready to send their customers into heaven (through their taste buds, of course---no violence involved). Motoko flexed her fingers while she watched her fellow members take out the necessary ingredients. She cringed slightly as she felt a slight breeze lift the hem of her skirt. Letting out a heavy sigh, she reminded herself why she was doing this and why she had conceded to wearing the frivolous costume that she wore. She didn't see what wearing a short skirt and a tight blouse had got to do with making desserts. It's all about marketing strategies, her group leader had as-a-matter-of-factly told her, lifting her thin-rimmed glasses higher up the bridge of her nose. Motoko shuddered at the reminiscence.

"Is everyone ready?" the teacher asked.

"Hai," everyone in the class synchronized.

"Okay then, the fundraising event is about to start soon, customers will funnel in, so be prepared."

"Hai."

Not long after that speech, as the teacher had predicted, students had started coming into the room and the place soon became stuffy and crowded. It wasn't long until both the desserts booth and the stuffed-animals booth were sold out of whatever they were selling. Everyone was exhausted and tired. Now what's left was the play still yet to be performed by the drama team. Nevertheless, everyone deserved a break after a day of hard work.

"You did great Motoko-chan!" Keitaro encouraged, patting Motoko on the back.

"Thanks," Motoko replied gratefully, beaming at him.

She was tired and her forehead was covered with a layer of gleaming sweat. She drew in deep breath and exhaled, closing her eyes to release the tension and stress her body had accumulated.

"Haha," Keitaro chuckled, "You're sweating so much—more so than when you practice kendo," and he helped Motoko wipe the pearls of sweat off her forehead with a tissue.

Motoko studied the touch of Keitaro and was amazed by how wonderful it had felt. The touch was almost a caress and felt warm and comforting. Oh how she would love to preserve this moment and have it linger on, even if it were only for a little longer on. But the deed was abrupt and Motoko could only relish at the feeling that was stored away in her heart, perhaps bathe in its warm feeling now and then in the future when she recalls the action.

"You want some of these mochis that I saved?" Motoko asked, offering a platter of the mochis that she had made. The mochis were of a large selection now, owing to the fact that Motoko had accumulated much experience from experimenting with different flavours. They came in different shapes, sizes, textures and flavours now, which at least one must suit one's palate preference.

Keitaro's face glowed at the sight of the mochis, his nose catching the waft of heavenly smell drifting off them. "Sure!" he enthused.

The end of the break was long due and it was now the drama team's time to shine.

"Gambatte, Keitaro," Motoko whispered, loud enough for only Keitaro to hear.

"Thanks," Keitaro said, delivering his boyish smile once again.

Motoko beamed in response. Suddenly Motoko realized how their relationship had progressed and now, she almost felt comfortable being around Keitaro. She no longer needed to hide her past secret loathing for Keitaro to appear "normal" in front of him. She really did like him now! Maybe everything will turn out fine after all…

The lights in the auditorium dimmed. Motoko and several other girls including the quiet girl, Shinobu, had sat themselves among the audience which was waiting patiently for the curtains to draw up and the show to begin. The long awaited announcement finally came as a voice declared the start of the show. The audience applauded as a beam of light shot at the stage, casting light and life on the scene.

The students playing the parts of king and queen were the first to come out, carrying a bundle wrapped with a blanket which was supposedly their baby. This was supposedly the scene in which the king and queen decide for a party for their baby daughter. The king and queen as expected have forgotten to invite the evil faerie for their daughter's birthday party, singling her out, and so led to the evil retaliation: the casting of a spell on the baby that had placed a due date on her life on her seventeenth birthday. Also, as expected, three faeries had come out, one blessing the child with beauty, and another with intelligence, and the last—to neutralize the curse placed on the child---blessed the baby such that instead of dying, the baby would be placed in a forever slumber until the man of her dreams wake her. One would think that after so many failures you hear from this story, the faeries should have known better to just redo the evil fairy's entire spell altogether rather than to replace it with a different spell, which really is not all that much better if you think about it----but, these are fairy tales and fairy tales are not subjected to revisions apparently. (Send _them_ some reviews with constructive criticism hehe!)

Alas, the crucial scene which most people had been secretly been looking forward to has finally arrived: the death bed kiss scene. My job as a narrator: I'll just summarize what had occurred up until that scene. Basically, the entire kingdom fell into a deep slumber when the naïve princess---Naru---pricked her finger on a spindle. From then on, several years have passed and here comes a prince from another kingdom---Keitaro. (This should refresh some memory.)

Motoko held her breath as Keitaro approached Naru who was lying on her deathbed as instructed----probably smiling to herself, Motoko thought sourly. A little surprised, Motoko felt a small hand clutch tightly on her arms atop of the armrest. She turned her head and found Shinobu all tensed up, eyes wide and unblinking, staring at the scene in front of her. The small girl noticed Motoko staring and realized that she had grasped onto the tall girl's arms, so she quickly apologized. Motoko smiled in a comforting way and softly said, "Don't worry---it's just a play," although she, herself, was experiencing butterflies dancing in the belly of her stomach.

"Thank you," Shinobu replied in a whisper so that she disturbed no one but this gesture proved unnecessary as it was soon covered by all the loud gasps escaping from the throats of everyone in the audience. The two girls turned their heads at what everyone was gasping about and found the epicentre of all the excitement: Keitaro delivering the magical kiss that, according to the script, was supposed to awake Naru. And she did wake up.

The audience cheered and clapped as the rest of the cast came to the front of the stage and started bowing—the guys--- and curtsying—the girls.

Motoko clapped too, because she knew everyone had worked hard and their performance was well done, and so deserved congratulations. Shinobu on the other hand was a little shocked and was straining herself to clap, her movements jittery and nervous-like.

Nonetheless, no matter how Motoko had tried to shrug off the image of Keitaro kissing Naru in her mind, pretending as if nothing much had happened, and however dim the auditorium was, her face was undoubtedly flushing, for her heart and physiological mechanisms betrayed her. There was no doubt---Motoko was blushing deeply and her heart racing quickly.

**Fanficzgrl:** Hey everyone! I know this was a short chapter. Actually, this chapter wasn't planned to exist in my logs, for I originally planned to briefly mention the occurrence of these events and move on directly to the next event. However, after the reviews that so many of you kind people have given me, I realized that some of you were actually expecting a description of what happens during the fundraising event so I decided to include one anyways. Oh what I do for you guys D haha. Anyways, hoped you guys enjoyed it nevertheless! This was a pretty quick update wasn't it? See! I kept my promise haha! Anyways, I'll try to get the next update up as soon as possible again! Please leave a kind review of what you'd thought! Thanks!


	11. Forever Tears

**Anime: Love Hina**

**Genre: Romance/General**

**Rating: Pg 13**

**_Chapter Eleven_**

**Melting Ice**

_By Fanficzgrl_

_**Forever Tears**_

"What's wrong Motoko-chan?" Keitaro asked, his face grinning, while he walked homewards with Motoko.

Motoko slouched, her shoulders drooped, and her mouth pouted. What's _wrong?_ Motoko thought, how could he ask me what's _wrong_! Is he just teasing or is his skull really that thick?

Motoko glanced sidewards and saw Keitaro smiling at her. It was a smile that defined innocence, something which really aggravated Motoko at the moment. Motoko ignored his question, hoping that he will eventually figure out what was _wrong. _Consider: every living human being is known to have a brain

Suddenly, a turtle stuffed animal appeared in front of Motoko, its short limbs waving and jiggling wildly in midair. Motoko's eyes widened in surprise; the color of her face grew paler and even paler. "Wha…What's this!" she cried aloud in a tone that was akin to a shriek.

"It's a turtle stuffed animal that I bought from the stuffed animals stand today for you, Motoko-chan! I thought it would be a nice gift for you just before our class trip to the ancient turtle civilization!" Keitaro answered, continuing to smile brightly, and continuing being unaware of Motoko's growing horror of the cute stuffed animal. "Here, turtle-chan wants to say hello! Konichiwa, Motoko-chan!"

Motoko shrieked, "Ah! Get it away from me!" She brushed the stuffed animal out of her face and because of all the energy that she had drawn inside of her in preparation for the turtle attack, Motoko was beginning to feel a little faint. "Ugh..why are there turtles flying in circles above your head, Keitaro?"

"Huh?" Keitaro asked, perplexed. "What are you talking about, Motoko-chan? Are you alright? You look a little dazed."

Before he can add another comment, Keitaro stopped when Motoko dropped to the ground in exhaustion.

"Motoko-chan! Motoko-chan!" Motoko heard Keitaro's voice calling to her. She wanted to scold at him but couldn't even draw a breath to speak. "Keitaro…you baka." She whispered very softly before she gave out, hearing Keitaro's calls grow more and more faint before the calling stopped.

When Motoko finally awoke, she realized that she was no longer on the hard concrete on the streets, but instead, she was inside her warm futon. A tray of warm tea was steaming beside her and a wet towel was placed on top of her forehead. She glanced to her side and found the screen window kept slightly open to allow for a fresh breeze to come in. Keitaro had had everything well suited for Motoko's needs and wants except for one thing: he left the turtle stuffed animal at the foot of her futon.

Eyebrows twitched, and limbs shivered. A scream was heard.

"What's wrong!" Keitaro hurried into Motoko's room, and found Motoko lying on the ground, dazed.

"What's wrong?" Tsuruko echoed Keitaro as she, too, rushed into the room. "Oh my."

"What is it, Tusurko-san?" Keitaro asked, his attention still directed at Motoko, "Do you know what's wrong with Motoko? She has been screaming and fainting a lot, and I just don't have the slightest idea why."

"Motoko is--" Tsuruko began, and then stopped. After a minute elapsed, she continued, "She's afraid of turtles."

"Afraid of turtles?" Keitaro exclaimed incredulously. "How could a girl who's not afraid of robbers and the dark be afraid of turtles?" Keitaro was unable to believe his ears. Tsuruko mustn't have said _turtles._

"It's true," Tsuruko said finally, "She's been afraid of turtles ever since she witnessed her grandfather's death."

"Her grandfather's death?" Keitaro murmured to himself. "What happened?"

"It's a long story…" Tsuruko grieved.

"I have time…" Keitaro said, urging Tsuruko to continue on with the recount.

"Alright, I'll tell you," Tsuruko said, finally relenting.

"Okay."

"You know that Motoko and I had lived alone together for quite some time already, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, it wasn't like that long before, when Grandpa was still alive. Grandpa looked after us when our parents weren't there. He was our Mother and Father altogether. After Mother and Father left us—abandoned us—it was Grandpa who took us in, and he who fed us, gave us warm clothes, cared for us, and listened to us. Grandpa was very dear to Motoko and I, and we loved him dearly." Tsuruko said, relishing the sweet reminiscence.

"That sounds nice," commented Keitaro, "but what happened next that made Motoko and Tsuruko-san's grandfather such a sad memory?"

"It all happened on one eventful day that started out like any other day. We were cleaning up the dojo and setting up for kendo practice. While meditating, Grandpa sensed the demon spirit of a turtle youkai (monster). He ordered me to bring Motoko inside the shrine and protect her. At that time, I was still young and Grandpa's voice was full of anxiety and panic that I was scared so I quickly heeded Grandpa's orders. We hid behind the doors and watched as Grandpa formed a series of hand seals, summoning the monster to appear.

'Come forth!' Grandpa screamed.

A sudden gale picked up and leaves that were swept into piles let loose and danced violently in the wind. The wind blew faster and faster in circles, slowly transforming into a violent whirlwind. No longer was it possible to see what was happening as everyone closed their eyes to prevent sand from getting in. Only when they were able to sense the gale subsiding that they opened their eyes.

'What's happening?' Motoko-chan asked Tsuruko in a quiet voice.

'I don't know, but let's believe in grandpa. He knows what to—' Before Tsuruko was able to finish her sentence, she gasped. Motoko looked up at her sister and saw her eyes widen in fear. Slowly, she turned her head in the direction Tsuruko was looking in and she too gasped in fear. What was left of the violent whirlwind was a turtle demon which stood around 15 feet high. Its eyes were glowing a lurid green and it bared its sharp eerily canine-like teeth.

'Who is it that dares challenge me?' the turtle demon roared. It, with its mouth opened, was no less scary than it was with its mouth closed. Heavy mucous droplets of saliva drooled out of the turtle's mouth and formed sticky puddles in their wake.

'Oh? Are those two little girls who I see hiding behind those doors?' the turtle demon asked amusedly, 'Are they offerings?'

Motoko and Tsuruko gasped again and shivered silently in horror.

'No, they're not,' Grandpa answered calmly, 'And it was, I, who called upon you. Why are you here?'

'You called forth me?' the turtle laughed mockingly, 'how could an old little man like you call forth me? And I'm here to revenge my son who was killed by a human in this world.'

'Your son?'

'Yes. My son came to the human world one day because he was curious what it was like in the human world. He got captured and was killed. I am here to seek revenge for him'

'Do you know who did this?'

'No, so I will make everyone in this world pay.'

'Then, I'm afraid I can't let you do that.' Grandpa replied calmly. 'I will not let you take away innocent lives. If you're going to kill them, you will have to fight me first.'

'I was just thinking the same thing, old man,' the turtle answered whole-heartedly.

Grandpa slowly took his stance. He closed his eyes and while mumbling inaudible words, his hands quickly formed a sequence of seals. When the ultimate seal was completed, his eyes opened again and he kneeled down, pressing his hands forcefully onto the ground. A line of fire shot out from both hands and went straight towards the turtle, encircling it in a ring of fire that engulfed the turtle in hungry flames. The turtle screamed in horror and pain as it felt its skin scalded by the fierce fire. Its eyes shone with vengeance as he thrashed about. He tried to escape but the ring of fire prevented him from doing so by providing a barrier against its body that trapped the monster in the flames within the circumscribed sphere.

'Old man!' the turtle screamed, 'I will take your life no matter what!'

'It's useless, turtle demon,' Grandpa replied, 'Vengeance will get you no where. Please die in peace and may your anger fade with time.' After having that said, Grandpa closed his eyes and softly whispered a prayer for the turtle.'

'Old man,' the turtle grumbled in midst of its screams of pain, 'You shall die!' Collecting all of its strength, the turtle forced the last modicum of his powers to eject his hard shell out. The shell flew above high in the sky, and broke away from the barrier that was weaker near the top than it was at the bottom: the power of the barrier faded as it moved further and further away from the source- grandpa.

'Grandpa!' the two girls who were watching awestruck screamed, 'Look out!'

Grandpa opened his eyes and was shocked to see an oversized turtle shell coming his way. He was too shocked to move and by the time he did, it was already too late. The shell had already made contact and cut his back.

'Heh,' the turtle demon got his final laugh before he fell into an eternal slumber.

'Grandpa!' the girls hurried to their grandfather's side as he laid on the ground with his fresh wound on his back bleeding profuse amounts of blood.

'Don't worry Grandpa, I'll bandage your wounds,' Tsuruko cried aloud trying her best to sound calm and reassuring through her tears. Quickly she ripped apart a piece of her training robe and performed treatment on the large deep wound.

'Don't die Grandpa, don't die- please!' Motoko cried, while hugging her grandfather tight at the same time. Motoko's tears seeped into her grandfather's robe, as she clutched tight onto his hand. Slowly, the warmth that usually emanated from her grandfather's hand left his dying body. Motoko squeezed it trying to warm it back up again but it was to no avail. Her grandfather's skin paled with each passing second and color slowly disappeared from his lips.

'Take care of yourself and Motoko, Tsurko,' Grandpa whispered faintly as his eyes closed, his last bit of strength expended

'No!' Tsurko and Motoko wailed aloud as they lost another person dear to them.

So that was what happened." Tsuruko concluded her story. A tear had formed near the corner of an eye and quickly she brushed it away. The memory never failed to evoke strong emotions in her.

"I see…" Keitaro murmured to himself, "So Motoko-chan and Tsuruko-san both have such an unpleasant memory in your past. I never knew."

Keitaro stared at the peaceful looking Motoko, and couldn't bear thinking that such an innocent girl has gone through so much pain and hard time. "I promise that I will never let you endure another unpleasant experience ever again," Keitaro secretly promised Motoko as he picked up her soft hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"I will help you conquer your fear of turtles. You will no longer need to be afraid of them ever again."

Unaware of Keitaro's secret ambitions to help her, Motoko slept on peacefully in her unconscious state.

* * *

**Fanficzgrl:** Okay…I know you all hate me now, but I was very busy with school lately and couldn't find time to get back to this. Now I have, so I hope you'll all forgive me…? Please? Haha. I want to thank all those people who gave me their continuous support and who sent me emails to remind me about my ficz. Love you all! I'll get the next installment in ASAP! Cyaz! 


	12. Lasting Fear

**Anime: Love Hina**

**Genre: Romance/General**

**Rating: Pg 13 **

_**Chapter Twelve**_

**Melting Ice**

_By Fanficzgrl_

_**Lasting Fear**_

The field trip forms were out…

_Dear Parent/Legal Guardian:_

_Your son/daughter/guardianship is eligible to participate in a school-sponsored field trip to Hanabishira Island where he/she will be engaged in the study of a local prehistoric **TURTLE** civilization. This study will allow the students to learn about the ecosystems in which **TURTLES** take part, the evolutionary trends of **TURTLES** that natural selection has created, and how prehistoric **TURTLE** culture can be applied to today's society. Students would also have a chance to have close contact with **TURTLES**! This is a very rare experience and would be enjoyed by students who are fond of history, biology, sociology, and of course, **TURTLES**..._

That was what the document looked like to the poor kendo girl whose brain was like a computer that was set to caps lock and bold whenever it read the word spelled T-U-R-T-L-E and its plural forms. If there were such words as "turtling" or "turtly" or "turtlization", they would definitely receive the same treatment. As Motoko's hands shook while they clutched onto the field trip form, she didn't notice the presence of Keitaro behind her, holding a travel guide of Hanabishira Island with a gigantic turtle picture plastered on its cover.

"It's cute isn't it?" Keitaro commented.

Motoko fainted a bit too quickly to answer.

Damn…and he thought he could exterminate Motoko's chelonaphobia (fear of turtles…and if you think this is weird, check out defecaloesiophobia) by overexposure. After all, it seemed that such obviously turtle things just caused her to check off "fainting" as one of her medical conditions.

_I must incorporate turtles in a more subtle way…_Keitaro thought during lunch break. At that moment, the blue-haired junior appeared from nowhere, carrying her signature handkerchief-wrapped cookies.

"Sempai…" Shinobu started, waking Keitaro from his daydreaming. He beamed at the younger while blabbering some greeting.

"Ano…I…I brought you something to eat…" the girl continued.

"Thank you very much, Shinobu! You always give me delicious things to eat!" Keitaro exclaimed while accepting the item from her hands. Unwrapping the fabric, he could make out the shapes of turtles on the pastries.

"I heard that sempai's class is going to Hanabishira Island…and Hanabishira Island is full of turtles…and I thought turtles are really cute…of course they aren't as cute as…wait, that's not what I meant!" Shinobu said a string of slightly incomprehensible "stuff" (i.e. nonsense syllables) while Keitaro looked at his food thoughtfully.

Subtleness, huh?

"The Japanese sweets sale was really successful!"

"So as the play and the stuffed animal exhibit!"

"No wonder we have enough funding for the field trip!"

"Speaking of which, did you pick up one of those turtle posters, Motoko-chan. They are so cute!"

Motoko stared at her as if she were some alien. _Cute? How could one find a puke-green, hard-shelled crossover between dinosaur and fish "animal" cute?_ She thought. To her, it was certainly amazing how people found a turtle cute, yet something as extraordinary and dexterous as a spider disgusting.

"I prefer eight-legged creatures," Motoko calmly announced. Her fellow Japanese sweets group members looked at her knowingly.

"You must like those cartoon octopuses then?"

"Sure, if they can weave webs," Motoko answered, leaving them confused as usual.

Finally breaking away from those "mysterious" life-forms called _Homo sapiens_, or mysterious in Motoko's terms, she sat in the far corner of the classroom to start her lunch. Away from the turtle pamphlets and turtle amulets and all those commercialized turtle items (she started to wonder if Hanabishira Island had a store that sold water bottles, sweatshirts, binders, postcards, and maple syrup for a ten-percent-higher-than-usual price just because all the above items had a turtle picture on it), she could finally regain her appetite until that cursed member of the male species appeared before her with an evil grin on his face.

"What is it, Urashima!?" she snapped angrily after having her lunch disrupted. After all, she was still rather annoyed at what Keitaro did during the play last night. (_yes, annoyed…not jealous. Who would be jealous for someone like him…and you suggested this! You did, evilly invisible person! _She thought)

"I brought some food for you," he handed her the wrapped food that smelled like pastries.

"I said, I don't like sweets!"

"But you liked mochis! Just try them, Motoko-chan."

She hated it whenever he used the suffix –chan. For some reason, she couldn't quite say "no" whenever he used it. She blamed it on a curse.

"Fine," she snapped once again before accepting the object. Upon unraveling the wrapping, her face turned pale again.

"…I…I'll kill you…TURTLE DEMON!!!" Motoko cursed Keitaro with her last bit of strength before falling unconscious.

On their way home from school, Motoko refused to converse with her "relative", choosing to end each conversation he struck up with a katana-like statement (i.e. single-worded sentence fragments that clearly meant "shut up, annoying, disgusting, turtle-like teacher-wannabe idiot!") Worse of all was that whenever Keitaro even mentioned the words "field trip" or "Hanabishira" or more directly "turtle", Motoko would glare at him as if every single little unfortunate incident on the face of planet Earth, ranging from starving children in Africa to PCB poisoned polar bears in the Arctic, was most likely, or rather definitely, HIS fault and that HE should be judged in a war-crime court for his indescribably cruel behaviors. Keitaro could just sigh at her unspoken accusations while they made their way back to the old inn.

"We're home!" Keitaro announced. Before Tsuruko and Seta could greet them, Motoko already went up to her room without a single word.

"How was the fundraising? Is it enough to cover the expenses for the field trip?" Tsuruko asked in her usual, caring manner.

"Yes! It was a great success! Before I forget, can you sign my consent form?" Keitaro asked while digging up the form from his messy backpack. Finally finding a crumpled, half-ripped document that looked like it came from the Jurassic era, the boy passed it to his older brother.

"I wonder if I can write on this without tearing it apart…" Seta examined, but when he caught Keitaro staring at him in a dangerous manner, he rephrased, "But this piece of paper has my style…my COOL style…"

Tsuruko was so tempted to do something out of character…like…roll her eyes. Dismissing the thought, she spoke, "Motoko should have this form too, ne?"

The room was silent while a passing siren displayed a perfect example of the Doppler Effect.

Dinner became quite a war-zone as three pairs of eyes stared unblinkingly at the girl whose chopsticks shone with an ominous light as she brought them down vigorously into the innocent pile of rice in her bowl, sending the particles flying above the table like a million fireflies in the night. Seta and Tsuruko expertly darted back and forth to avoid being struck by the speedy airborne weapons of mass destruction, while the clumsier boy soon looked like Santa Claus with half a dozen pounds of rice sticking stubbornly to his face.

"You shouldn't stuff yourself like that. You might choke," Tsuruko stated, causing her sister to jump at the sudden statement, spitting a spurt of half-chewed rice at Keitaro in the process.

"Ish Fam…Am Gom Toe Shmubby…" Motoko muttered something with her mouth full that roughly translated to "It's fine…I'm going to study…"

"Shmubby…is that supposed to be Turtlish?" Seta asked, prompting Motoko to spit out the rest of the rice in her mouth at the poor boy who seemed more like a snowman at that point in time.

"**TURTLISH**!?!" Motoko yelled, her mind automatically caps locking and bolding the new word in her dictionary.

"Nevermind what he said, Motoko-han. I heard from Keitaro that your class will be going to Hanabishira Island," Tsuruko said. What Motoko feared the most finally came out of her sister's mouth. She had wanted to avoid them the entire evening so as to avoid the subject, but Tsuruko just HAD to bring it up.

At that point, Motoko shot a deadly glare at Keitaro that would've paralyzed his lungs like some manga attack if his eyes weren't covered with rice.

"I won't be going," she emotionlessly spoke.

"What do you mean you won't be going, Motoko-chan?" Keitaro yelled after brushing off the rice as best as he could.

There it went again, that annoying suffix that made Motoko seem like the world's most-wanted criminal if she didn't accept whatever HE suggested.

"I said…I WON'T BE GOING!" Motoko snapped, "Are your ears so lowly evolved that they are unable to perceive my speech?"

Keitaro looked at his fingers with a hurt look on his face. _Damn that look…_Motoko thought, _It's about as bad as saying –chan…_

"I think it would be a good experience, Motoko-han," Tsuruko added.

_And now even sister too…even sister is doing that "it's all for your own good" act!_

"Maybe Motoko-chan is afraid of turtles," Seta suggested innocently, causing Tsuruko to elbow him so hard that he felt the need for first aid.

_Damn him…that no-good-idiot-who-stole-my-sister is challenging me…as if I can let a weak, stupid, disgusting-as-a-turtle sister-stealer like him defeat me without even a fight…_

"Are you hallucinating, BROTHER-IN-LAW? I, Motoko Aoyama, the descendent of the demon-slaying Shinmeiryuu clan who can cut a rock like paper, can only be scared of something as measly as tu…tur…**TURTLE** in your dreams!"

Before Seta could say anything in his defense, his mouth was hurriedly covered by Tsuruko's hand while the older swordswoman and the clumsy boy clapped at Motoko's magnificent speech.

Motoko started regretting what she had said an attosecond (ten to the power of negative eighteen of a second) later.

* * *

**Fanficzgrl: **If you had hated me for the long waits before, I know you hate me even more now. I'm really sorry. To those who emailed me regarding whether or not I'm alive, rest-assured that I'm still quite healthy, just half-dead due to last minute cramming. I promise to update ASAP! Thanks for reading! 


	13. Preparations

**Anime: Love Hina**

**Genre: Romance/General**

**Rating: Pg 13**

**_Chapter Thirteen_**

**Melting Ice**

_By Fanficzgrl_

_**Preparations**_

For the past several days, Motoko spent her time trying to overcome her fear for turtles. It was definitely not an easy task. She tried the lame attempt at googling pictures of different turtles; she tried forcing herself to stare at the "cute" turtles on Keitaro's posters; heck she even tried consuming the turtle shaped gummy candies that little kids were munching away gleefully on. It was no good: the moment she put one gummy onto her tongue, the smoothness of the turtle shaped candy quickly developed into a sort of disgusting sliminess that induced an upsurge of her past meal. Not pleasant, indeed. Obviously, she spitted it out.

Heaving a deep sigh, Motoko wondered what would become of her after this trip—if she were to survive it at all, that is. Sulking in her despair, she closed her eyes and prayed to God that she wouldn't need to encounter a turtle. They _were_ only just excavating ancient artefacts from an ancient turtle civilization. Ancient means from a long time ago, meaning extinct, meaning no longer present…right?! She dearly hoped so.

A knock sounded from her bedroom door. Motoko looked up and her sister's voice followed, "Motoko, are you inside?"

"Yes, Ane-ue. I'm in here. Come in, the door's unlocked." With Motoko's consent, Tsuruko entered inside her room and sat on her bed, looking at the sulking Motoko, which she wasn't very used to seeing. Motoko seems a lot more like a common teenager now, Tsuruko realized. Maybe it was because of the new environment she's in and perhaps due to a bit of Keitaro's influence as well…

"What is it Ane-ue?" Motoko asked, disturbing Tsuruko from her little mental aside.

"Oh," Tsuruko began, "I just wanted to let you know how proud I am of you."

"Oh…" Motoko answered. Now that wasn't any good. Whenever someone's proud of you, that means he or she will be expecting something good from you. Expectations are hard to live up to.

"Yes," Tsuruko said, "I've been worried about you ever since you were young. I'm glad you're finally brave enough to conquer your fear now. I think you're ready now too. Especially now that Keitaro is with you –"

"Keitaro?!" Motoko cried in exasperation, "He's so not helpful sometimes. He just sticks a turtle in front of my face, asking me if it's cute or not. It's kind of like me stuffing a decapitated head in front of his face asking him if it's cute or not. What the hell? He's just so stubborn sometimes. I mean, who would—"

Tsuruko smiled subtly at her sister's newfound energy. Motoko had never seemed so enthusiastic about something besides kendo, and even then what she expressed was a form of serious energy, not this healthy and warm glow.

"Hehe…" Tsuruko chuckled aloud, unable to contain all the happiness that was bubbling inside her. "I guess I'll be leaving now. Good luck Motoko!"

The day of the field trip soon arrived and everyone was busy chattering in their little groups, voices of anticipation and nervousness filling the otherwise quiet classroom. Inflated briefcases and carrier bags can be seen all over the place. Hats, sunglasses, and other different apparels scattered over desk tops and chairs, the classroom was what one could call, a scholastic jungle.

Standing by a wall, Motoko began to fidget, filling uncomfortable in her new summer attire consisting of a pale yellow tank top, and a pair of white denim shorts. Don't ever let Ane-ue pick out her clothes again, Motoko mentally reproached.

"Motoko-chan!" a strong but cheery voice called out amidst the din. It was Keitaro's look of excitement that Motoko saw when she turned in the direction of the familiar voice.

"Hey…" Motoko stammered, uncomfortably. She still wasn't so sure about the idea of going on this field trip, but she decided there really was no better alternative. It was herself who had gotten her into this mess. Motoko sighed. Damn it!

"Okay, everyone" the teacher summoned the class to attention, "We will soon be boarding the plane to Hanabishira Island. Is everyone ready?!"

"Yes," everyone besides Motoko answered in unison.

"Great," the teacher beamed, "We shall go now then."

The class picked up their luggage and petered out of the classroom. Seeing how difficult if was for the tiny Shinobu to haul her oversized briefcase out the door, Keitaro decided to lend a helping hand by towing it out for her.

"Hey Keitaro," Naru's confident voice bellowed, "Help me out with my luggage as well! You got to be fair here. If you're going to help one gal out, you should help another out as well."

Keitaro roller his eyes playfully and agreed albeit reluctantly to help Naru carry one of her bags. Motoko, seeing the little flirting scene before her, fumed and hurriedly picked up her briefcase with one strong arm, leaving without Keitaro. Keitaro immediately noticed Motoko's anger and quickly offered to help Motoko to carry her luggage as well, but Motoko acted as if she were impervious to what happened to Keitaro and coolly refused the offer. "I can carry this easily by myself. You, on the other hand, seem to be in need of more help than me" Keitaro looked at himself and realized how right Motoko was. He was now carrying Naru's bag on his back, pulling Shinobu's suitcase along, and meanwhile carrying his own briefcase in his free hand. A gentleman's life sure was tough.

Without too long a bus ride, Motoko and her class soon arrived at the airport where they will board the plane to Hanabishira Island. Motoko had never been to the airport before, so she found the size of the place slightly intimidating with its bustling atmosphere.

"Calling Plane A706, destination to Hanashibira Island," the voice on the intercom called out.

"Well, that's us, everyone," the teacher bellowed, summoning everyone in the class to come together.

"Don't worry, Motoko-chan," Keitaro assured Motoko with a tight squeeze on Motoko's hand.

"I'm…not worrying," Motoko stammered, trying to hide her fear of riding some human-made vehicle several thousand kilometers above ground. "Not worried at all…"

One by one, the class entered through the gates and was soon guided by flight attendants to the pre-assigned seats. Not surprisingly Keitaro and Motoko were sitting together. Keitaro had needed to help the classmate who originally had the ticket to the seat beside Motoko with so many chores: chalkboard duties, cleaning duties, garbage duties. He even promised to help him do his math homework for one whole week. Just thinking about all the stuff that he owed the classmate made Keitaro shiver with dread.

Glancing to the side, Keitaro caught eye of Motoko looking even paler than her usual pale complexion. Beads of cold sweat were starting to form on the side of her head, and slowly, they meandered down her smooth porcelain skin. Her breathing became rapid and her pupils constrict.

"Are you alright, Motoko?" Keitaro asked out of concern.

"Yea," Motoko heaved, "I'm fine."

"We will now be taking off in 5…4…"

Hearing the pilot's announcement, Motoko suddenly felt a tide of panic rising in her body, adrenaline surely being secreted by her adrenal glands in gargantuan amounts. She closed her eyes and clutched tightly on to the two armrests beside her as if her life depended on them.

"It's okay Moto—"Before Keitaro could even finish his sentence, Motoko shot him a menacing glare, silencing him immediately.

What happened afterwards—let's just say that it was a long story, something with drinks flying around, sudden window-shutting, and destroyed theatre screens involved. And mind you, there were no hijackers on the plane.

Alas, they finally arrived at Hanabishira Island safely.

* * *

**Fanficgrl: **Now that wasn't too long a wait before another update right? I really did keep my promise this time! Sorry, if it's a little short, though. I could go on further about what happens at Hanabishira Island, but I thought it would be better if I kept that as a separate chapter. So…yup! Thanks for reading! Oh yeah, and thanks for all the lovely reviews guys! They really motivated me to update quickly. Keep your eyes out for **_Melting Ice_**—another chapter would surely come out soon as well ;) 


	14. Arrival

**Anime: Love Hina**

**Genre:** **Romance/General**

**Rating: Pg 13**

_**Chapter Fourteen**_

**Melting Ice**

_By Fanficzgrl_

_**Arrival**_

The brilliant tropical sunshine shone on the tired group as they stepped off from the plane, having exhausted all their energy in dodging Motoko's violent outbursts. Palm trees swayed in the summer breeze while our travelers tread along the sandy shore towards the hotel where they would be staying. As the dizzy swordswoman (dizzy from her frantic ki blasts on the plane…thank goodness they all survived) walked along with everyone else, a cute native "animal" slipped out of the bushes to point its yellow flipper up at her as a greeting.

It was a horrible greeting indeed…

"Myuuu?"

"Kyaaaah!"

Boom…clang…clang

"What is the matter with you, Aoyama?"

"Motoko-chan, sensei is angry now…"

(someone faints…as if you don't know who…)

Due to the sudden onset of Motoko's "medical condition," she was unable to attend the welcome tour that was planned for them, not that the welcome tour was interesting anyhow. All that the others did while Motoko and her friends rested at the hotel was to visit the Turtle Observation Center, which really was more of a Turtle Merchandise Observation Center. Besides a tank of turtles plopped at the front entrance, with a sign that said three dollars each, there wasn't a single sign of turtle research besides the wonders of marketing skills. The undoubtedly "Made in Ceramia" bottles that smelled of cheap rubber were selling for ten times the price of ordinary bottles just because there was a puke-green, cross-between-a-dinosaur-and-fish animal stamp plastered on its semi-transparent surface, not to mention the expensive sweaters that was designed with such little creativity that its only pattern was the Times New Roman "Hanabishira Island" text across its fuchsia fabric. One would wonder why they didn't at least magnetic lasso a random Love Hina cover art and pasted it onto the shirt design, a feature that was readily accessible on the palette of almost any Photoshop versions, but putting a bit more thought into the problem, we can come to the conclusion that 1) Hanabishira residents do not use Photoshop because it is too expensive of a program to buy or 2) Paying off copyright fees to Ken Akamatsu would be too disadvantageous from a financial standpoint. A third reason regarding their different sense of art would be invalid, because it is quite clear they don't have any.

Therefore, Motoko didn't miss out on any fun although I'm sure it would have been more interesting had she been to the welcome trip. Just imagine the smashed turtle tanks and the flying bottles that would magically hit the security guard's heads…

When Motoko woke up, she was again terrorized. Recognizing that she was being covered with an uncomfortably green blanket, with hexagonal patterns that did not resemble any cyclohexanes, chair conformers or not, she was sent into a panic attack. Hoping against all odds, she peels off the blanket from her body and took a look!

"KYAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Motoko yelled.

"What's wrong!?" Keitaro asked as he hurried into the room through the semi-open door.

SLAP

"What did I do?" Keitaro whined only to be met with Motoko's glare.

"You know full well what you did!"

By then, Naru and Shinobu, who had secretly spied on Keitaro who was waiting outside as Motoko slept although they fell asleep from boredom as well, rushed into the room. Their hearts were filled with the impending feeling of doom, beating fervently as adrenaline pumped through their arteries. How could he? They had given him so much, but how could he!?!

But the moment they stepped into their room, they toppled over from ridiculousness instead.

"YOU WANT ME TO DIE FROM SHOCK!?" Motoko screamed, pointing at the bed with a finger while her other hand shielded her eyes from the sight, only leaving a crack for her to glare at Keitaro. From the Urashima point of view, the bed was shaped like a turtle, the single, attached pillow forming the head while the blanket formed the shell. On either side of the turtle bed were yellow drawers that could be pulled outwards like the turtle's flippers.

"I think it is cute though…" Keitaro muttered, using the same argument for the nth time, earning a ki attack that sent him flying into the skies like a star.

"I think THAT is cuter!" Motoko retorted as he was launched in flight.

Once again, Keitaro wondered about Motoko's amazing physics skills. How can she project a perfect mixture of forces to initiate Keitaro's uniform circular orbit, sending him back to his starting point every single time he flies? It is a mystery indeed. While plummeting back towards the closed hotel window, Keitaro wondered if Motoko was the reincarnation of a rocket scientist.

Night had finally set in on the tired group of students that had arrived at Hanabishira just a few hours ago. It was an exhausting day, first the nightmarish plane ride, then the souvenir shop tour that undoubtedly squeezed out every single cent from their currently deflated wallets. After a loud explosion from their classmate's room, the sound of someone crashing through the window, and the resulting bickering between two females, an innocent bystander, and the victim who had just survived the collision, the group can finally start their dinner in peace, their eyes wandering at the source of it all.

Aoyama Motoko, the single student who had quickly made it to the top of every black list on Hanabishira; the greatest terrorist on the face of the nation…

Beside her sat Urashima Keitaro, his head bandaged so heavily that it seemed like he was wearing a turban. A somewhat artificial smile was plastered on his face…his only defense against the two who sat beside him.

On the other side, of course, was Narusegawa Naru, the one who had become second on every black list on Hanabishira. Her glowing, red eyes were definitely an indication of her jealousy towards Motoko's fame.

Far away from them, though her eyes had never left them, was Maehara Shinobu, her fingers twirling rapidly while her pale face sweated profusely. She was definitely in shock. Poor bystander…she seems to require first aid as well.

So they sat there, Shinobu dazed, Keitaro stuffing his smiling mouth with pasta so that he had an excuse to dismiss the questions fired at him, and the two females who were in a staring…or rather, glaring…contest.

"Didn't you know that only I have the right to send Kei-kun on a lower earth orbit?" Naru asked in a challenging voice. Shinobu couldn't help but wonder if inflicting pain was necessary for displaying affection.

"So? Are you jealous?" Motoko challenged back. Steam started to escape from the top of Naru's head.

"Why would I be jealous of a whiney little girl who is scared of turtles?" Naru taunted. With that, she stuck a piece of turtle-shaped bread in Motoko's face, but was intercepted by Keitaro's mouth.

"That was delicious. Thank you, Narusegawa," Keitaro said with a smile. Motoko didn't know what to say. She was happy that he had defended her, but the thought of him eating the food Naru offered was enough to send chills down her spine.

"I'm full. I'll be at my room," Motoko grumbled, realizing what she had just been thinking. She really needed to get down some meditation.

Since when did she care so much about what he did?

* * *

**Fanficzgrl**: a quickly jotted down chapter between fervent last minute cramming for April finals. The references to cyclohexanes were definitely a result of this. Sorry for the lack of content in this chapter. I've tried my best, but too much science has certainly decreased my creativity. Please review and give me some feedback! Anything is appreciated. 


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